


Rise of the Ultimate Assistant!

by randomclustermissile (orphan_account)



Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: (dw it’s brief), Alternate Universe, F/F, Female Pronouns for Fujisaki Chihiro, M/M, Misgendering, SPOILERS: sayaka survives and makoto dies, Trans Fujisaki Chihiro, spoilers for danganronpa IF
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 48,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25643146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/randomclustermissile
Summary: An AU where Sayaka survives chapter one... and Makoto doesn’t (kinda like the danganronpa mk2 fan-universe). All story is written from her perspective.Also it might get a little gay~Spoilers for the light novel, IF.
Relationships: Asahina Aoi/Ogami Sakura, Ikusaba Mukuro/Maizono Sayaka, Ishimaru Kiyotaka/Oowada Mondo
Comments: 43
Kudos: 149





	1. Prologue: Welcome to Hope’s Peak High

When I assembled with the others in front of the large metal door, I knew right then my life was over.

I walked towards where the others were present. Two large machine guns pointed right at me as I stared at the door. I felt the barrels boring holes into me, despite firing no bullets. I tried my hardest to relax my heart rate and slow my breathing. 14 of us, all gathered together, making idle chatter, if not banging furiously on the large vault door. I looked around. Everyone looked preoccupied, so I decided not to bother anyone. I sighed. A camera on the wall started panning about the room, switching focus from person to person. As I stared at it, it panned right to me, and I quickly looked away, shuddering. I felt so alone, and yet so cramped and exposed. I desperately look around for anyone to talk to. I saw a tall man in a suit standing by himself and approached him.

“Who do you think you are? I don’t have time for you.” He rudely said, pushing his glasses up his nose and turning away. He looked up at the camera and scowled.

“O-oh. Okay.” I said nervously. I made a mental note never to talk to him again. I allowed myself a few minutes to try and remember how I got into this mess, but for the life of me I couldn’t. All I remember was getting dizzy. I must have passed out. Just as I was about to give up hope, I felt another person approach. Like my mind was connected to his own, I immediately knew who it was. “Could it be?” I whispered to myself. I straightened myself up and pushed through the crowd.

“Naegi!” I cried eagerly, feeling my heart soar. Finally, a familiar face, and a friendly one too.

“Maizono!” The short boy looked shocked to see me at first, but then smiled. “Y-you… remember me?”

I was confused by his question, but I didn’t show it. “Of course I do, silly! We were at junior high together.” I smile. “It’s so nice to see a familiar face.”

“Y-yeah.” He stammersd nervously. He rested one hand on the back of his head. “I’m just surprised you remember me, considering how popular you were and all…”

I felt my heart sink. Does he really think that low of me? “You were always friendly to me. Even though we didn’t talk that much.” I tried to reassure him. Smiling felt so novel now that I was in this situation, but with Naegi around, I held the hope that that feeling wouldn’t last.

“Well, I’m glad. It’s nice to see you. What exactly is going on here?” He asked.

Several voices piped up upon hearing his approach.

“Woah, hey! A new kid!” A male voice near the door cried.

“That makes fifteen, huh?” A large boy with small, round-rimmed glasses said. “That seems like a good cut-off point, but I wonder if that’s everyone.”

“Cut-off point?” I thought to myself.

“I just woke up in a classroom… no idea how I got there.” Naegi said.

“You too, huh?” A boy with spiky hair and a lot of piercings said.

I looked around. Everyone’s faces spoke volumes. We all passed out once we entered Hope’s Peak Academy, then woke up in a random classroom. I do remember seeing the tall muscular lady and the other athletic-looking girl asleep in the same classroom as me. After I woke them up, we all went to the main hall together. I wonder why no-one woke Naegi?

“Hey!” A tall boy in a pristine white uniform suddenly yelled and pointed at me and Naegi. “Introductions are supposed to be brief. We don’t have time for long conversations!”

I looked down at the floor. “Sorry…” I mumble.

Naegi looked sad and sheepish. “Ah, of course.”

“We can talk about this later.” I say as I smiled at him, and he immediately walked towards the rude boy who dismissed me earlier. I walked over to the fat boy who remarked earlier about the number of students. He was a little weird, but he was very polite. After I made my rounds, I started making mental notes on who to stay close to among the group. So far, apart from the short girl in the purple sailor uniform and the tall boy in the suit, everyone seemed very friendly and approachable. Even the biker dude seemed cool, albeit very angry. I was willing to dismiss that though, anger is quite a normal reaction to suddenly being trapped in a school with no recollection how or why. Apart from Naegi, the two athletic girls and the boy with spiky hair seemed the most friendly. The short girl in the skirt was very cute and nice, but her lack of self-esteem was really overbearing. The lilac-haired girl was polite, but so emotionless. It was so difficult to read her, even with my stellar intuition. She didn’t even react when I told her I was psychic. Still, I didn’t want to dismiss either of them as potential friends. I hope I can get along with everyone, and I especially hope I can get closer to Naegi.

Ding dong, bing bong!

A loud noise came from a monitor high up on the wall on the left-hand side facing the door.

“Ahem, ahem. Testing, testing, mike check, one two, one two! Can everyone hear me? This is a test of the school announcement system!” A small, cheery, almost-playful voice came from the monitor, the picture was blurred, but the silhouette resembled that of a… bear? “To all incoming students: I would like to begin the opening ceremony… right now! Please make your way to the gymnasium at the earliest convenience. I’ll be waaaiiitttiiiinnng!” The voice drew out the last word playfully.

I felt my entire body sink into the floor with dread. It seems my feeling wasn’t unique, as everyone else seemed despairful at the announcement.

“Oh, I see! So it was all just a joke! A set-up for the opening ceremony!”

Well, everyone except for the man with the wild hair, Hagakure, apparently.

“I’d be freaking out if it was actually real! Haha!” He smiled cheerfully, and walked to the gymnasium with a naive spring in his step.

The tall, rude boy, whose name I didn’t bother remembering, mustered the energy to scowl at us before walking to the gymnasium. One by one, everyone made their way to the gymnasium, until it was just me and Naegi left in the hallway. Naegi, sensing my distress, smiled at me.

“Shall we go then?” He said softly, as if to not disturb me.

I shivered. “Of course.” My fears were quickly washed away by his smile as I walked alongside him to the gym. However, the feeling didn’t last. Several people were gathered in the gym foyer, seemingly unable to walk into the gym. I almost grabbed Naegi’s hand by instinct, but didn’t. They all saw Naegi, and for whatever reason, that gave them the courage to walk in. I walked into the gym after them, and Naegi followed, making him the last one in. When that happened, well…

“I… am MONOKUMA!” A voice shouted from the gym stage.

“It’s… a teddy bear?” Someone asked.

“I AM NOT A TEDDY BEAR!” A black and white bear shouted indignantly from the podium on stage.

“IT CAN TALK?” The fat boy, Yamada, shouted.

“It probably has a speaker in it or something!” The boy with the white uniform, Ishimaru, shouted.

The bear, apparently called Monokuma, was growing more irritated with its comparison to children’s toys, and quickly changed the subject. “I am the headmaster of this establishment!”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Naegi muttered. If the situation wasn’t so scary, I would’ve laughed.

The bear then went on to explain about the ‘communal life’ it wanted us to lead, much to everyone’s rightful anger.

“Rest of my life?” I whispered to myself. I could feel my knees shaking. Naegi was sweating.

“However, there is one way to leave the school…” The bear smiled evilly. “I call it the graduation clause. If one student were to disrupt the harmony of this communal life you have established together, that person would be allowed to leave.”

“Disrupt? What exactly does that mean?” The tall, rude boy asked. My heart stopped. I was pretty confident I knew what the bear meant.

“Oh, you know, if someone were to murder another.”

Gasps filled the gymnasium.

“M-murder!?” Naegi cried.

My head started spinning. Everything was happening so fast, my brain couldn’t handle it. When I looked back up, I saw Owada, the biker, gripping Monokuma and holding it high in the air, with a fist prepared to strike.

“I’M GONNA RIP YA TO FUCKIN’ SHREDS!” He growled.

“Waaahh!!!” Monokuma cried. “Violence against the headmaster is in violation of the school’s regulations!”

“Shut the fuck up! Let me outta here, or I swear to Christ-!”

A loud beeping noise started emanating from Monokuma as its head sank.

Owada sneered. “What? No smartass comeback this time?”

Kirigiri, the girl with the cute lilac hair, ran forward, her eyes widened. “WATCH OUT! GET RID OF IT!”

Owada angrily looked towards her. “Huh!?” He said, confused.

“HURRY UP AND THROW IT! TRUST ME!” She screamed.

Owada shook his head and threw Monokuma high into the air.

And it exploded.

Everyone screamed, aside from the rich, rude boy, who quickly masked his shocked expression with laughter.

“Wait, but does that mean the teddy bear is gone?” The short girl in the skirt, Fujisaki, asked. I breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly got it caught in my throat.

“I am not a teddy bear!” Monokuma cried, rising out of nowhere.

“There’s another one!?” Kuwata, the cute spiky-haired guy, yelled.

“Heehee, like I said, technology far greater than NASA can ever comprehend! Now, on to the main event, I have a present for you!” It pulled out 15 electronic tablets, and handed them out to each student. “These are your eHandbooks! These are essential to your school communal life, and they are super expensive, so don’t go losing them!”

I cautiously grabbed my handbook from the bear and turned it on. My eyes met Naegi’s. He looked about as scared and bewildered as I felt. On the handbook, several sections were laid out clearly. I immediately looked at the top of the screen to check the time. The time was close to 9am. I felt my head start reeling. Unlike a smartphone, it didn’t seem to have a connection to the internet and, strangely, did not show the current date. My name was printed on the opposite end to the time at the top of the screen, indicating that this was my own handbook and no-one elses.

“Is your name at the top of your handbook too?” I asked Naegi.

“Huh?” He looked at me. “S-sorry. Y-yeah.” I couldn’t tell if he was scared from the ridiculousness of the situation, or if he was still not used to me talking to him. He shook his head. “Look. There’s a map of the school. It has all of our dorm rooms laid out clearly.”

“Dorm rooms?” I asked.

“Hey, look!” He said eagerly. “We’re right next to each other.” He smiled.

I smiled back. At least one good thing came out of this. “There’s a section for rules here too.” I briefly read through the rules of the school. I stopped when I got two certain rules.

“If a student murders another, they become the blackened. The blackened, if not discovered, is considered to have graduated, and may leave the school.”

The girl with the weird maid dress and the ridiculous pigtails, apparently called Celeste, placed her handbook down by her side and spoke up. “So it seems we have two choices: One, get used to living a communal life in harmony with each other…” Her German accent seemed weak but convincing, despite the fact she insisted she was Japanese. “Or, murder another and leave the school.”

“But… killing each other… that’s…” Fujisaki said slowly, tears forming in her eyes.

Yamada started panicking. “So we’re abducted out of nowhere and stuffed into this school, and now we’re supposed to start killing each other?” He yelled. “This is… WHAT IS THIS!?”

“A lie, is what it is!” Ishimaru yelled with his normal ferocity. All these ridiculous things, it has to be fake!”

“Fake or not, that does not matter.” The tall, rude boy said, strangely calmly. “Is there anyone here seriously considering this?”

Everyone gulped.

“T… Togami…” Naegi said slowly. He glanced around at the others, as did I. At the moment we all realised in tandem: We must kill someone if we want to leave. We were forced in here to work together to live in harmony, all the while watching our backs to make sure we don’t get murdered. Even though there were only 15 of us in total, I felt a hundred eyes on me at once. Naegi and I looked at each other hopelessly. Even Naegi, my only friend here, I had to be suspicious of him, too.

We all came to the same hopeless realisation at the same time.

We must kill someone in order to leave.


	2. Down For the Count

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naegi kinda screws up a bit. We all know how THAT turned out. But Maizono is intrigued by the Ultimate Fashionista Junko Enoshima.

We must kill someone in order to leave. That thought kept swirling around my mind. I couldn’t bring myself to ever do something so heinous, but I also really wanted to get out. I looked around the others. I know they all wanted to leave too, and I wasn’t sure how far anyone would go to do it. While I could guess, there’s no way I could ever accurately discern who could kill and who couldn’t. I shook my head.

The key word isn’t could, it’s would. 

Would someone kill a fellow classmate to leave? That question hung in the air like the smell of a wet dog. I clutched my head in anguish. 

“So. What now?” A voice asked. 

I raised my head, turning with everyone else to the origin of the question. 

Kirigiri had her arms folded and stared stone-faced at all of the fellow students. “What are we gonna do now?” She asked again. “Just stand around glaring at each other?” 

Everyone was stunned by her pointed comment. It seemed to snap everyone back into reality. 

“R-right. She’s right!” Ishimaru replied. “Sometimes, even if you’re nervous or afraid, you have to take a step forward!” 

I shook my head. 

“So… what is our mission exactly?” Yamada asked. 

“We gotta look for a way out, duh!” Kuwata replied. 

“Yeah, and find whoever the hell is controlling that stupid bear and beat the crap outta them!” A tall girl spoke. I looked at her. I knew her as the Ultimate Fashionista, Junko Enoshima. A comment like that coming from her felt really odd. Not sure, but something feels really off about her. I dismiss that as my fear of the stupid graduation requirement.

“But we should probably look at the eHandbook first, right?” Fujisaki said. “It has the school map and the rules laid out. It’d be a good idea to go over them before we do anything.”

“Oh yeah, about that…” I spoke up, and instantly regretted it. Everyone’s eyes were on me. If this were a concert, it would have been amazing, but this was something totally different. I tried not to swallow my tongue. “Naegi and I already looked at the rules, and there’s this really strange one about the graduation requirement.”

“O-oh, yeah.” Naegi said. “I completely forgot about it.” He looked at his eHandbook and read out the rule. 

“Discovered?” Owada yelled. “The hell does that mean?” He balled his fist. “Dammit! I have promises to fulfil! I can’t stay here!” 

“It means, if you will cease your mindless yelling for one second, that you have to kill someone without anyone finding out it was you.” Togami explained. 

“B-but why? W-why do we h-have to do that?” Fukawa, the short girl in the purple sailor uniform, muttered, a terrified expression on her face. 

“I don’t see anyone reason to worry about it.” Togami replied. “Just follow the rules as they’ve been explained.”

“Yeah! Togami’s right!” The shorter athletic girl, Asahina, replied. 

“I wasn’t finished-“ Togami tried to say. 

“Forget all the silly junk about murderers or whatever.” Asahina interrupted. “Now that we know the rules, we should explore the school.”

“True.” Ishimaru concurred. “We need to find out where exactly we are. Is there any way out? Are there any food or supplies?”

“Damn straight!” Kuwata said excitedly. “Okay, then let’s all start looking around-“

“I’m going alone.” Togami interrupted, a scowl darkening his face. 

“Oh yeah?” Enoshima looked skeptically at him. “And how come?”

“Oh, come on.” Togami scoffed. “Someone might have already considered disposing of us to grant their own freedom.” He glared at Enoshima. “Are you saying we should stand around with them in our midst and make it easier for them?”

If I didn’t hate Togami before, I certainly hated him then. His foul attitude reminded me so much of my pop group’s former manager. Because of that, that manager got in trouble with the paparazzi and we got rid of him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Togami was the first victim. “W-wait! Hold on a second. That would never-!” I tried to say. 

“Don’t bother saying it couldn’t happen.” He scowled at me. I shrank back in fear. He looked ready to kill me at that very moment. “You can’t deny the possibility. That’s why you all shrank back in fear when you heard the graduation rule. Am I wrong?” He folded his arms and a smug expression creaked its way up his face, making him look even more intimidating. 

“But… um…” I stammered. I couldn’t help but see his logic, as awful as it made me feel. Only the heir to an extremely powerful corporation could think like that, but it made sense.

“So I’m simply acting in accordance with what I think is best for me.” He said simply. 

“Hold on!” Owada cried. “Like I’m gonna let you run around doing whateva the hell you want!” He approached Togami menacingly, but Togami didn’t back down. 

“Outta my way, plankton.” Togami spat. We all froze in fear. For someone to say something like that to such an angry and physically threatening person like Owada… I felt my heart skip several beats. 

“What the fuck did you just say?” Owada asked slowly, his face rapidly turning red. 

“One tiny, insignificant plankton, drifting its measly way across the sea. Pathetic.”

“I’m gonna kick your ass, square-eyes!” Owada screamed. 

“S-stop!” Naegi yelled, running in between Owada and Togami. He looked so dwarfed compared to the two of them. “We shouldn’t fight!”

“The fuck you just say? You some kinda goody-goody little bitch!?” Owada looked down at Naegi, who shrank in fear. 

“Naegi…” I whispered to myself. My only friend from junior high just signed his death warrant, and I was powerless to stop it. 

“Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like that? D’ya think you’re my fuckin’ dad or something?” Owada gripped Naegi’s hoodie. Togami stepped backwards with a grin on his face. 

Naegi started sweating. “N-no, I-I-I wasn’t-!”

“FUCK YOU!” Owada yelled. The rest all happened in slow motion. His fist drew back slowly, and rammed forward into Naegi’s face. Naegi’s body went flying and crashed into the floor several feet away. 

“NAEGI!” I yelled, immediately running to his side. He had already lost consciousness, and one of his eyes was starting to swell. I held his head up slightly to elevate it, as his nose started streaming blood. I whipped my head around and stared at Owada furiously. “YOU STUPID IDIOT!” I cried, tears forming in my eyes as I turned back to Naegi. 

I heard laughter from behind me. “Kehehe, see what I mean?” Togami sneered. “This is why we cannot trust each other.” He turned and walked out of the gymnasium, the door loudly closing behind him. Fukawa quickly trotted out behind him, mumbling to herself. 

“WELL!?” I looked up at the dumbfounded faces around me. “DO SOMETHING! HELP ME CARRY HIM TO HIS ROOM!” 

Asahina and her tall, muscular friend, Ogami, rapidly ran over to help. Enoshima stood next to me, tears in her eyes at the shock. 

Ogami looked at me. “I’ll take him to his room.” She said calmly, picking up his body like it weighed nothing. 

“I’ll go with you.” Asahina said. I nodded and slowly got up. 

Enoshima whirled around and glared furiously at Owada. “What the actual hell, Owada!? What kinda shit do you have stored in that stupid pig-brain of yours?” She crossed her arms furiously and stormed away, joining me in following Asahina and Ogami to Naegi’s room. Everyone else quickly dispersed. I glanced back at Owada, who looked very angry at himself. Kirigiri gave a disappointed sigh and followed everyone else out of the gym. 

A few minutes later, we found our way to the dorm rooms and walked into Naegi’s bedroom. Ogami gently placed him down on his bed. 

“It’s too bad the nurse’s office is locked…” Asahina said sadly. 

“Hmm…” Ogami said. “There should be some ice in the kitchen.” She spoke slowly, as if she was carefully considering every word. “Hina, can you come with me to get some ice for Naegi?”

Asahina nodded and smiled. She walked out of the dorm room. 

Ogami stood in the doorway and looked at me. “Will you be alright?”

I nodded. “I’ll look after him. Don’t worry.”

Ogami smiled. “I wasn’t asking that. I asked if  _ you  _ will be alright?” She asked kindly. 

I blinked. “Of course. Thank you, Ogami. I’ll talk to you when he wakes up.” 

Ogami seemed satisfied, and shut the door as she left. 

I looked at Naegi, who was still out cold. I sighed. I felt a presence behind me. “How come you’re still here?” I turned to face the woman in the room with me. 

Enoshima blinked. “What-? Ah-“ She started sweating. “I just- I just wanted to make sure he was alright too. That’s all.” 

“Don’t worry yourself, Enoshima. He’ll be fine.”

Enoshima looked reluctant. This puzzled me. “I-if you don’t want me here, that’s-“

“Hey, Enoshima?” I said quietly. 

“Huh?” She replied, shocked. Her behaviour was so out of character for what I thought the ‘Ultimate Fashionista’ would be like. Is this how Naegi sees me? My thoughts were interrupted by Asahina returning with bags of ice wrapped in tea-towels. She places one on his eye near his forward and another on his swelling cheek underneath it. 

“Will you guys be alright?” Asahina asked, echoing her compatriot’s question from earlier. 

“Of course!” Enoshima flashed a smiled and a peace sign, perfectly mimicking how confident she was when I first her. The second Asahina left, Enoshima’s face dropped again. 

“Enoshima…” I said. 

“Y-yeah?” She asked. 

“Come, sit down.” I sat down on the bed next to Naegi. She walked away from the door but still stood a fair distance from me, leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door. 

“What did you want to talk to me about?” She asked. 

“You’re just… different to how I imagined.”

She scoffed. “That’s rich coming from you.” 

“No, I mean-“ I grimaced. “Even in the main hall and in the gym, you’re way different now than you were in there. What changed?”

“I dunno…” She said. “Seeing Naegi get totally decked like that… he was just trying to help…” She shook her head. “I guess it totally puts it into perspective. We really are trapped in a school where anyone could kill us at any moment.”

I looked at her. The diva act had totally dropped. She seemed like a totally different person. I get that when you’re the most scared, you show people who you really are - I know that all too well being a performer - but for Enoshima… even though we’re both in show biz, we’re still both in totally different worlds. Even so, I can easily empathise and sympathise with her. I smile at her. “Hey, we’re gonna get through this, right? All together. Yeah. We’ll find a way out.”

“You sound just like him.” Enoshima smiled. 

“You hardly know him, though?” I asked, puzzled. 

“Ah, well, just from what I gathered talking to him in the entrance hall.” She said hurriedly. “I’m real good at reading people. Kinda have to be in my field. He seems like a nice kid.” 

I look down at Naegi. His breathing was steady. “He really is.”

“You two already knew each other, right? I could tell from when he first saw you.”

“Yeah. We went to junior high together.”

“So weird. You two are the only two people that know each other. I know like, none of these people.”

“Yeah. I guess it is a little weird.”

Enoshima looked back at Naegi, a sad expression on her face. 

“Is something on your mind, Enoshima?”

Enoshima looked up, shocked. “No, of course not.”

“Well, if you ever need to talk about something, don’t hesitate to come to me.” I smiled sweetly. 

“Haha, I’ll remember that.” She laughed, but she still had a sad look in her eyes. No, not sad,  _ despairful.  _

I gulped. “Enoshima, are you… hiding something?”

Enoshima looked at me like I was crazy. “I mean, I hide a lot of things. I can’t exactly be an open book around all these weirdos. No offense. How could you tell, anyway?”

“Oh? Don’t you know?” I winked at her. “I’m psychic.”

Enoshima stared wide-eyed at me. “WAH!? How? WHAT DO YOU KNOW!?” She suddenly yelled. 

I giggled. “I’m just kidding! I just have great intuition.” I smirked at her. “But you ARE hiding something!” 

She scoffed. “Ugh, oh my god.” Just like that, the diva act was back. She shook her head, smiling. “Anyway. Thanks for talking to me, I guess. I should head back to my room.” She walked towards the bedroom door. She turned around and looked at Naegi again. “I’ll… I’ll come back later to check on you guys.”

“For sure. I won’t leave him until he wakes up.”

Enoshima smiled, then left. 

I turned to Naegi. He still hadn’t stirred. That stupid meathead Owada really did a number on him. I shook my head. I shouldn’t be getting angry at him right now. My focus should be on Naegi. “Naegi…” I said softly. I stroked his hand gently. I reminisced on our time back in junior high. We weren’t particularly close, but he was what I admired - what I wanted the most. He was just a normal kid. I do love my group and I would do anything for them, but there’s a small part of me that just wanted a normal life. And when I talked to Naegi, I felt that normal life shine through, like a monochrome spotlight. It wasn’t exciting, but it was the lack of overstimulation I sorely needed in my crazy schedule. And yet, here I am now - living a normal life in a crazy, upside-down environment. This is the exact inverse of what I wanted. And yet, I was fortunate enough to have my one aspect of normality with me. 

“It seems like your ‘Ultimate Luck’ has rubbed off on me slightly. If you weren’t here, I…” I refused to even acknowledge the notion. I felt him move slightly under my palm and I heard a moan escape his lips. I looked over excitedly, but he fell back into his stupor, and I was forced to relax again. I lifted the ice bags off his face and placed them onto the pillow next to his head. His swelling had massively reduced, but the bruise underneath glowed angrily blue. I sighed. That excited feeling just now… I couldn’t quite place it. Was it really just concern for an old friend? I dismissed the thought. In a place like this, there was no room nor time for feelings like that. Once again, the feeling of being simultaneously alone and cramped returned. I shook my head, refusing to let my mind wander any further, but I didn’t let go of his hand. 

The door opened, and Enoshima had returned. “How is he?”

“The swelling’s gone down, but he’s gonna have a nasty bruise.” I smiled at her. “How are you?”

“A lot better, actually. I don’t know what came over me earlier.” She scoffed. Her aloof persona was in full swing. I was now more than convinced it was an act. “That’s good to hear he’s getting better. Everyone’s gathering in the dining hall. We’re gonna go over what we’ve found from searching the school.”

“That sounds good. I’ll join you once he wakes up.” 

Enoshima smiled at me. She gave another sad look at Naegi before leaving the room once again. 

“That girl is a total enigma. Almost as much as Kirigiri.” I said aloud. I looked back at Naegi. His hand started twitching underneath mine, and he moaned quietly. I lifted my hand off of his and watched as he slowly woke up. 

“Ugh…” He moaned again. He slowly opened his eyes. “Mai… Maizono?” He said quietly. 

“Naegi!” I gasped. “Thank God you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know… dizzy? My head hurts.”

“Heehee.” I giggled. “That was quite a wallop you took.”

“A wallop?” He gave me a funny look and sat up.

“Woah woah woah, take it easy.” I said quickly. “You could be concussed.”

He looked at me quizzically. “Naw, I’ve been concussed before. This is nothing.”

I giggled. “And here I thought you were the Ultimate Lucky Student.” 

“Haha.” He chuckled. “I don’t think that’s how it works.” He sat up slowly and faced me. “Were you… were you here the whole time?” 

I nodded. “Asahina and Ogami gave you some ice packs to reduce the swelling. Everyone’s waiting in the dining room. I’ll go tell them you’re awake. Just come when you feel like it, okay? Don’t rush.” I got up and walked towards the door. While he was looking away, I looked back at him and smiled. I closed the door and headed to the dining hall. 

“Ah! Miss Maizono!” Ishimaru yelled. “You are tardy!” He frowned. “That is unacceptable. You must try harder in the future! I will help you persevere!” 

“I… what?” I asked, confused. “But- I…” I shook my head and sat down at the table next to Enoshima, who had her boots rested on the table. 

“Ugh, give it a rest, already!” Enoshima cried. “She’s been looking after Naegi! No thanks to Owada the meathead over here.”

Owada glared angrily at her and said nothing, instead deciding to grumble to herself. 

“Ah! Speak of the devil!” Kuwata beamed. Naegi slowly walked into the dining room, clutching his head gently. 

“Ah, hey guys!” He said cheerfully. 

“Naegi! Your tardiness is unacceptable!” Ishimaru yelled again. “Please, explain yourself!” 

Everyone, including Naegi, all looked at him oddly. 

“I…” Naegi explained slowly. “Was unconscious on my bed?” 

Ishimaru narrowed his eyes in skepticism. “Hmm… I will accept it this time around. But next time!” He pointed at Naegi. “Do your best to be punctual.”

“Yeah. Sure thing Ishimaru.” Naegi replied. 

“Oh for crying out loud, Ishimaru! Shut up!” Owada cried. He swung his feet off the table and stood up. He walked over to Naegi and outstretched his hand. “Hey. No hard feelings for back there, right? Water under the bridge and all that?” He chuckled nervously.

“That’s  _ not  _ a proper apology!” Enoshima cried. 

Owada glared at Enoshima. 

“N-no no, it’s fine. Thanks, Owada.” Naegi said hurriedly, accepting the handshake. Owada must have had a firm grip, because Naegi immediately winced in pain. 

“Haha! Glad to hear it.” Owada beamed. “Come, sit down with us.”

Naegi smiled. He looked happy to be addressed by Owada in that way. If there’s one thing about Naegi, it’s that he’s very quick to forgive. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Naegi walked over and sat down next to me, smiling sweetly at me. 

“Now!” Ishimaru slammed his hands down on the table, making Fukawa, Hagakure, Naegi, and myself all jump. “Let us all report what we discovered on our search! One at a time!”

Ogami was the first to speak. “Well, after Hina and I brought ice bags to Maizono for Naegi, we both went searching the classrooms on the first floor. It seems that all of the windows have been bolted shut, and they are impossible to remove. 

“Even for the Ogre!?” Hagakure cried. Ogami looked at him, puzzled. 

“Okay! Next person!” Ishimaru cried. 

“The windows being bolted shut means we have no way of determining what time of day it is, or what day it is. We can only trust the eHandbooks Monokuma handed out to us.” Celeste pointed out. 

“The tape on the school store was taken down once we all left the gym.” Kirigiri said. “I poked around inside, lots of interesting stuff, but nothing that looks useful for escaping.”

“The kitchen looks well-stocked.” Yamada said excitedly. “Monokuma told me it gets restocked every day. It looks like we’ll all have plenty of food.”

“No protein shakes though.” Asahina said, disappointed. 

“ _ Is that really so important? _ ” I thought to myself. 

“Plenty of knives, though.” Kuwata said. “We’d best be careful.”

“Don’t say that, idiot.” Owada elbowed him. 

“Ow!” He cried.

“Oh, Monokuma explained a couple things to me after I woke up.” Naegi said. “Firstly, all of the boys have tool kits in the drawers in their dorm rooms, and all the girls have sewing kits. All the bathroom doors in the girls’ dorm rooms have locks as well, the boys’ bathroom doors do not.”

“It appears the stairs leading to the second floor of the school and dorms have been blocked off.” Togami said. 

“Oh, so now you wanna contribute to the group?” Enoshima said sarcastically. 

“Stop talking.” Togami spat. 

“There’s a laundry room here, with plenty of washing machines and lines to hang up washing.” Hagakure said. “Thank god, I do not wanna stink in this place!” He chuckled. Fukawa looked uncomfortable. 

“There are cameras and monitors in all of the toilets and dorm rooms.” Fujisaki said sadly. “That’s all I could find, sorry.”

“Thank you, that is valuable information, Miss Fujisaki!” Ishimaru cried eagerly. 

“Hmm… about the cameras and monitors…” Celeste said. “If they are in all of the bathrooms around the school and our dorm rooms, we can assume they are in every room in the school, correct?”

General affirmative murmurs bounced around the room. 

“That means that Monokuma, or, as Enoshima suggested earlier, whoever is controlling him, will be able to watch us no matter where we are, no?”

Everyone looked at each other uncomfortably. 

“Going by that,” Celeste continued, “And the fact that certain areas of the school are inaccessible during the night hours of 10pm-7am, I establish a personal addendum to said rules:” She cleared her throat. “We will not leave our dorm rooms between 10pm-7am at all.”

“What!?” Owada cried. “You-“ His retort was caught in his throat after a harsh glare from Celeste. 

“Now, I understand this is entirely self-imposed. We are all trusting one another to abide by this rule.”

“Sounds good to me.” Togami said. “I have no plans to use these facilities anyway during nighttime, anyway.” 

“Ghh…” Owada moaned. “Aw, hell with it. It is a pretty fuckin’ good idea.” 

Celeste smiled. 

“Then that settles it!” Ishimaru slammed the table again. “No sneaking outside of your dorm rooms outside of the established daytime hours!”

I suddenly felt the weight of the entire day weigh on me. I just wanted to sleep. I didn’t know what time it was exactly, but I knew Naegi had been unconscious for a long while. I looked over to him. He seemed exhausted. He looked back at me and smiled, and I felt my hopes briefly rise again. 

_ Ding dong, bing bong! _

Everyone’s heads turned towards the monitor on the wall. Monokuma’s evil sneer appeared on the monitor.

“Ahem! Your Hope’s Peak Academy School Headmaster has an announcement to make! It is now 10pm. Soon, the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and access into the dining hall is strictly prohibited! Please return to your rooms for a good night’s rest! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite!” Monokuma called cheerfully, then the monitor shut off. 

Several people grumbled at the announcement, and one by one everyone begrudgingly left the dining hall and made their way into their dorm rooms. 

“You alright, Naegi?” I asked once everyone had left. He was still sitting down. 

“Hmm? Ah, of course. D-don’t worry about me, Maizono.” Naegi said. He sounded rather sad. 

“Do you want me to help you to your room?” I asked, holding out my hand for him. 

Naegi blushed. “W-what? Ah… If you want… that would be really nice…” he took my hand and slowly stood up. He was leaning a lot into me, giving me the feeling that the punch was affecting him a lot more than he wanted to admit. Well, maybe not just the punch. I helped him back to his room and bid him farewell as he went into his bedroom. Once I was sure his door was closed and locked, I went into my own room and locked the door. Once I had crawled into bed, I immediately went to sleep. 


	3. Old Friends and New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maizono spends time with everyone, enjoying the company of Naegi and Enoshima especially. Things seem nice and hopeful for a while, but it was not to last.
> 
> In a school like Hope’s Peak, how can it?

I woke up to the morning announcement. I slowly crawled out of bed and stretched. It occurred to me that I had slept in the clothes I was wearing the previous day, even the skirt. I did my best to flatten out the creases before giving up and simply heading to the dining hall. 

As I expected, Ishimaru was already there, along with a couple others. Celestia Ludenburg, who at this point requested we call her Celeste, was sitting elegantly at a small table away from Ishimaru. Yamada was standing idly, quite literally twiddling his thumbs. Everyone else was absent. 

“Hmph.” Ishimaru frowned. “Exactly one minute late, Maizono! I’ll let it slide this time, considering the small numbers.”

I rolled my eyes. 

“Everyone who arrives after, however, will have some explaining to do!”

Togami walked in, closely followed by Fukawa who was trotting along, desperately trying to get Togami’s attention, to no avail. Naegi walked in soon after. 

“You! You’re all late!” Ishimaru yelled, pointing at the three who had just entered. 

“I don’t recall agreeing to your rather arbitrary schedule, Ishimaru.” Togami scowled. 

Ishimaru looked like he was going to explode. “It is important to maintain a proper schedule to lead a life of morals and balance!”

“S-shut your m-mouth.” Fukawa muttered. 

“Ah, Fukawa-“ Naegi tried to say, but was interrupted.

“W-what!?” Fukawa cried. “D-do you hate me th-that much? Y-you m-must think my voice is l-like that of an u-ugly troll!”

I blinked. I wasn’t sure if that was actually how she felt, or if she was just taking advantage of Naegi’s kind nature to waiver any criticism he could give her. If that was the case, it seemed to work, as Naegi stopped dead in his tracks and said nothing, his mouth open in confusion. 

“Enough of that. We’re here now.” Togami scowled. “Much to my… chagrin.”

“Chagrin?” I repeated. 

One by one, everyone else came strolling in. Asahina and Ogami were talking and laughing with one another, but they seemed to be the only ones in high spirits. Everyone else was dragging their heels. 

“Wonderful. You’re all here!” Ishimaru cried. “Let’s eat!”

“That’s the only reason you wanted us to gather here?” Togami growled. Even though he was clearly angry, his tone was still just as cold and smug. It was frightening. 

“Well, we all need to get along, right?” Naegi asked. 

“Need to? My God you are pathetic. Naive and pathetic.” Togami spat. “Don’t you remember what Monokuma said? We’re all in here to kill each other. ‘Teaming up’ just makes it easier for you to get backstabbed and killed.”

“Only if you make it so.” Kirigiri responded bluntly. “It’s no different to going alone. You’re only vulnerable if you make yourself vulnerable.”

Togami scowled, but then smiled. “See? Someone who understands.”

“Don’t compare my logic to your cynical arrogance. I’m simply stating the truth.” She snapped. Her voice gave no emotion, but it wasn’t heartless like Togami’s. She had the ferocity of a woman who was cool, calm, and collected. Togami said nothing. Fukawa looked ready to explode, but said nothing. 

“Alright. Can we just fuckin’ eat now?” Mondo growled. He looked very tired. He clearly wasn’t used to early mornings. Ishimaru nodded, and we all went into the kitchen to make our breakfast. 

After breakfast, we all went back to our dorm rooms. I looked around my prison cell and sighed. I fell on my bed. I recalled something Celeste said during breakfast: “The key to our survival is not individual strength nor is it strength in numbers. It is the ability to adapt. If you do not adapt to your life here, you will die. Simple, is it not?” The smile she gave did not match the severity of the statement, and at the time it scared me majorly, but in hindsight, she was right. I huffed, blowing hair out of my face. 

“Well…” I said out loud to nobody. “No use in just sitting here moping. I’ll walk around the school and talk to people.” For some reason, I so badly wanted to talk to Naegi. I pinned it down to him being the one face I knew, but I also knew it was important for me to strengthen my bonds with the others. I walked out of the room, briefly looking around as I did so. Nobody was around, so I walked towards the door to the school grounds, and walked right into Naegi coming out of his bedroom. 

“Kyaaa!” I cried, losing my balance and falling to the floor.

“Ow!” Naegi moaned, clutching his head. It must have still been sore. He wobbled a bit before looking down at me. “Ah! M-Maizono!” He cried apologetically, extending his arm to help me back to my feet. “I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah. I’m fine.” I said quietly. I stood awkwardly, one arm clutching my head, the other clutching my elbow. 

Naegi smacked his lips. “Do you… wanna spend some time together? Today?” 

I smiled. “I’d love to. A nice walk through the school is just what we need.” 

Naegi smiled. “I agree.” 

We walked around the school for a bit. The stairs leading to the second floor were still blocked off, so we begrudgingly walked around the space we had already seen several times already. 

“Hey, wait a second…” Naegi said, slowly opening an orange door. “This wasn’t unlocked before.”

“Wasn’t it?” I asked. “I hadn’t even noticed it.” 

“Oh!” Naegi cried. “It’s a store! Kinda like a pawn shop.” He walked towards some strange machine sitting on a desk near the back of the store. “Oh! It looks like one of those toy machines.” He turned to me. “You know the ones where you put coins in, turn it, and then a prize comes out?” 

I shook my head. 

“Oh. Well, I’m gonna see if I can get something.” He dug into his pocket and brought out some weird-looking coins with Monokuma’s face on them. “I’ve been finding these in random spots around the school. Maybe I can use them on this.” 

I felt awkward standing around, but I still watched as he placed a coin into the slot and turned it. A small canister popped out as the machine made a weird dinging sound. He opened the canister and took out the item inside. 

“Oh wow…” He breathed quietly. He held it in his hands, looking at it briefly, before presenting it to me. 

“You’re giving it to me?” I asked. 

He nodded, a friendly smile on his face. I took it from his hands and examined it carefully. It was a small bronze knife with some kanji etched onto it. 

“It’s beautiful, Naegi.” I beamed. “Thank you. This is truly a magnificent gift.”

Naegi blushed. “It’s really nothing.” 

“No, seriously. Thank you. Even in this dreary situation, you make me feel like the happiest girl in the world.”

Naegi’s face was tomato red and he turned away. I couldn’t help but giggle at the sight. “Ahaha, I’m so glad you like it.” He turned back to me, a big smile on his face. “Consider that something to remember me by.” 

My face immediately dropped. “Naegi…?” 

His jaw dropped. “No, I don’t mean that!” He said hurriedly. “I mean when we all get out of here.” He laughed nervously. “There’s no way I’d ever leave you.”

He was trying so hard to reassure me, but the chill of his words still froze me to the bone. 

“H-hey, Naegi?” I said softly, my voice shaking. 

Immediately he was concerned. “Yeah?”

“D-do you think… we should grab something… for self-defense?”

He looked shocked. “Self-defense? But-“

“I-I-I know what you’re thinking.” I said quickly. “We shouldn’t be distrusting our peers. But this is just in case, y-you know?” I looked him in the eyes. I could see my own scared, weeping face in his pupils. It was shameful. 

He hesitated. “Maizono…” He said softly. He clenched his fist. “No. You’re right. This is just a precautionary measure.” He relaxed himself and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Besides, I’m supposed to protect you.”

“Supposed to?” I echoed. I giggled slightly. “Naegi, don’t feel as if you’re forced to.”

“No, I’m doing this because I want to. For you.” Naegi said. He opened the door to the school store and held it open so I could go through. “Come on, I saw some weapons we might be able to use in the gym foyer.” 

We walked to the gym foyer where a display case sat holding various items, including a large and rather gaudy-looking sword. 

“Ah! Here it is.” Naegi cried, opening the glass cabinet and reaching in to grab the sword and its display stand. He offered it to me, but I refused. 

“No, Naegi. It’s probably better if you have something like this.” I explain. 

“But I thought-“

“No it’s okay, I’ll find something.” I reply. I give him a large smile to reassure him. “Naegi, from now on, I’m going to promise you something.”

“Huh? You what?” Naegi asked, confused. 

“You said you wanted to protect me, right?” I came closer to him. “Well, I’ll assist you! I’ll be your Ultimate Assistant!”

Naegi chuckled awkwardly. “Ehehe… if that makes you happy, Maizono. I would love that.”

“Of course.” I beam at him. “That’s why I think you should hang on to the sword. Besides, this knife you gave me looks pretty sharp anyway.” I say, holding up the knife Naegi gave me. 

“Fair call. The gold glitter paint on this thing sticks to you anyway. Ugh.” He held up his hands, which were covered in gold glitter. 

I giggled. “You’re funny, Naegi.” 

He blushed again. “Ehehe…” He followed me out of the gym and we headed back towards the dorms. Enoshima saw us and walked over. 

“What are you two lovebirds up to?” She giggled. “I hope nothing too scandalous.” She gave a big smile to show she was joking. 

Naegi held up the sword. 

“Ooo!” Enoshima teased. “Is this some new kink play I haven’t heard about yet?” 

Naegi turned red. “W-What? No! I-“

Enoshima laughed. “Ahaha! I’m only joking, sweet Naegi. You must really be readying yourself.” Her face dropped slightly, as if she too suddenly remembered the severity of the situation. 

“W-what about you?” Naegi asked. 

“Oh trust me. I can take care of myself.” Enoshima said. “Believe me.”

Naegi nodded. 

“And how are you doing, darling Maizono! Has your gentleman been treating you well?”

I giggled. “I’m his Ultimate Assistant now. We’re gonna work together to get everyone outta here!” 

“Sounds like a plan!” Enoshima said. 

I looked at Enoshima’s face, considering it carefully. At first, I just assumed it was all the photo editing that made her look so different, but it seems that her entire resolve was so different than I expected. I couldn’t help but again feel like she was hiding something. Her feelings, perhaps. She seems particularly drawn to Naegi, which for some reason bothered me. I hoped it wasn’t jealousy, jealousy is frightening. 

“I should head back to my room. But I’ll see you two lovebirds at dinner! You both make a super cute couple~” She said playfully. Oddly enough, she didn’t move from here she was standing. I tried not to look back as Naegi and I walked back to the dorms, but I could tell she was watching us. 

When we each got back to our bedrooms, we bid each other farewell and closed our doors behind us. I breathed a sigh of relief. So far, our second day trapped in the Academy had gone smoothly. I hoped it would last. For someone to turn to murder just to leave… I couldn’t bear thinking about it. I collapsed on my bed. Even though there were still several hours before dinner and by extension nighttime, I felt in dire need of sleep. I turned on my side, my body facing away from the door. I felt my long blue hair rest on my face, shrouding my vision. Even though the light was still on, I quickly drifted to sleep. 

Several hours later, I was awakened by a knock at the door. I groggily got up, straightened my hair out a bit and opened the door.

“Enoshima?” I said. 

“Why do you look surprised?” She looked at me skeptically. She shook her head. “I didn’t see you come out of your room. Everyone’s heading to dinner.” 

“Ah. Cool. I’ll come with you.” I closed the door behind me and walked with Enoshima to the dining hall. Everyone else was already present. I went to sit down next to Naegi, but he seemed deep in conversation with, strangely, Kirigiri of all people. As before, her face was completely devoid of all emotion, but she kept nodding and responding to his words like a normal person would. Naegi seemed to enjoy her company, though, so I left them alone. I smiled at Enoshima and sat next to her at the large table with all the others. Ishimaru addressed all of us, but none of us were really listening at this point. I made small talk with various people as we ate, before heading off back to the dorms. 

“Sleep well, Maizono and Enoshima.” Naegi said. 

I smiled at him. “You too, Naegi.”

Enoshima blinked in surprise. “Thank you, Naegi! Don’t dream too much of me.” She winked. I rolled my eyes. 

“Ehehe, sure…” Naegi said awkwardly. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight!” I smiled at him before heading into my room to sleep. 

*

Several days passed. I spent time with various people during that time. Although I spent plenty of time with Naegi and Enoshima, I made sure to talk to the other people. I need to learn more about them and gain their trust. Not everyone was very likeable though, for instance, Togami and Fukawa always seemed to brush me off with nasty comments, and Ishimaru and Hagakure were incredibly annoying. Out of everyone, Fujisaki, Asahina, and Ogami seemed to be the nicest to me. Kirigiri didn’t seem to have time for me, and I didn’t exactly want to spend much time with Yamada, Owada, and Kuwata. They all gave me bad vibes, and I always trust my intuition.

However, I did learn a lot about everyone. Interestingly enough, I found out ‘The Ultimate Baseball Star’ hated baseball, and instead wanted to create a band. I can’t say I didn’t sympathise with him, but his attraction to me was almost obsessive, and his musical style was… a little different to my own, so I couldn’t help him as much as I could have. But he seemed appreciative of my help, so I left it at that. I also took on Naegi’s weird habit of searching the school for coins and gambled with the Monomono machine (as Monokuma called it) in the school store. It seemed like the coins were placed deliberately, which confused me to no end. Asahina seemed very appreciative of the swimsuit I got from the machine (how can a swimsuit fit in a tiny capsule anyway?) and I learned a lot about her training habits and her swimming exploits. I talked to everyone and learned more about their past, each story was unique and just as insane as each other. But I’m one to talk, my journey wasn’t exactly easy-going either. When people heard about my mother, they were always shocked and sympathetic, and they were amazed by my determination to become the idol I am today. For a little while, it almost seemed like things were peaceful - like we had actually adapted to our communal life. 

But it was not to last. 

That night, 3 days after we first met, Monokuma interrupted our daily dinner meeting in the dining hall. 

“Okay! Let’s get back to business! Your life here has already begun and a couple days have gone by, and nobody’s killing anybody!” 

I felt my stomach drop. 

“I thought all you kids were lazy and selfish, and here you are working together.” He continued. “But I’m totally bored!”

Naegi fumed. “There’s nothing you can say that’ll make us start killing each other!” 

“Oh yes there is! Ding ding ding!” Monokuma cried excitedly. “I figured it out! All the mystery ingredients are here - right people, right setting. So why hasn’t anyone killed anyone yet?” He asked rhetorically. 

Everyone looked nervously at each other. 

“That’s what I couldn’t understand.” Monokuma continued. “But I just realised there was one very important piece missing!”

“And that would be…?” Celeste prompted, stone-faced. While I was still in the dark, it was clear that she knew exactly what he was going to say. 

“A _motive!_ ” He shouted. 

“A-A m-m-motive!?” Fukawa cried, clutching her head. “Nnggaaahhh!”

“Puhuhuh! It’s so simple! I just have to give everyone a motive!” Monokuma was essentially monologuing at this point. 

“Motive? What the fuck are you talking about?” Owada growled. 

“Oh, by the way…” Monokuma ignored Owada. “There’s something I want to show you guys!”

“Stop changing the goddamn subject!” Owada yelled. 

“I have a little video I’d like you all to see. Ooo, but it’s not some pervy adult video or anything like that…”

I gritted my teeth. Monokuma’s snide jokes were truly grating. 

“It’s a special video for each of you showing what’s going outside the school.”

“Outside the school?” I breathed. 

“What are you talking about?” Naegi asked. 

“Hee hee hee, Master’s so impatient today, isn’t he? Well, why don’t you just watch it and find out?” Monokuma teased. 

“W-watch it?” I said. 

“Here in the school, there is a special place you can go that has everything you need to watch the video.”

“You’re talking about the A/V room, right?” Kirigiri said, her voice and face stoic. “Well, let’s get going. No use dilly-dallying.”

“My, my, you’re eager aren’t you?” Monokuma said slyly. 

“No, I’d just rather not listen to your inane ramblings.” Kirigiri replied and swiftly left the dining hall. 

“INANE!?” Monokuma said, genuinely insulted. “Hmph. You guys are no fun at all. I thought you’d be excited about all this.”

“Excited?” Enoshima said. “Why the hell would we be excited about the prospect of killing each other!?” 

“No point in arguing with the bear.” Togami butted in. “It’s as Kirigiri said, there’s no point in, as she so eloquently put it, ‘dilly-dallying’. Let’s make our way over to the A/V room and get this over with. Outta my way, stuffed freak.” Togami marched forward, following Kirigiri out of the dining hall. 

“STUFFED FREAK!?” Monokuma screeched. “Eugh, your words cut me so deep. Well, off with you all!” Monokuma disappeared. 

“Just what in the hell was that all about?” Kuwata asked. Everyone shrugged. 

I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped. “Uwaaah!”

“Maizono, are you alright?” Naegi asked. 

I relaxed. “How could anyone be alright after that? I… I have to know what’s happening outside, right?”

“I’m not sure if that’s wise.” Naegi said. 

“No, I have to know.” Owada said, his head down. “I have promises to keep. I need to know… I have to know…” Owada slowly trudged out of the dining hall. 

Kuwata frowned. “He’s right. There could be something that could be useful to us getting out, right?” He walked away before any of us could answer. 

“Wait!” Fujisaki cried. She ran after Kuwata and Owada. “Let me come with you!”

Enoshima raised an eyebrow at Fujisaki before turning to us. “Well, no sense in us wasting time, right?” She turned on her incredibly tall heels and walked out. 

“She’s right.” Ogami said. “If we don’t push forward…” she trailed off. 

“Sakura’s right!” Asahina cried, slamming a fist into her open palm. “We have to do this!” 

Her confidence was contagious. Everyone’s spirits were slightly raised, and together the rest of us all walked to the A/V room. When we walked in, we saw everyone standing in the A/V room apprehensively. Togami was white-faced, leaning against the desk and saying nothing. Only Kirigiri was calm. She slowly took her headphones off her head. She turned around slowly to address us all. 

“It seems each of us have our own individual video, each of them on a disc.” Kirigiri explained, holding up a box. “As you can probably tell, Togami and I have already seen ours. I want you all to prepare yourselves for what you might see.” 

That tone coming from Kirigiri… it shook me to my core. I looked at Naegi, and through his terrified expression, he smiled at me. One by one, we each grabbed a disc and found a DVD player and inserted the discs. 

“Ah-!” I gasped. There on the screen was… “My group…” There was me, standing in the centre of the stage in costume, all my pop friends on stage with me. It was a concert, and one I remember will. It was my last concert before I got accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy. I smiled. If the video ended there, it would have been almost hopeful. But as I had come to learn, this wasn’t a hopeful situation.

“Sayaka Maziono…” Monokuma’s voice came through my headphones. I gulped. “The Ultimate Pop Sensation - lead singer for a world-famous all-girl pop band. For these girls, the glowing spotlight only made them that much more beautiful.”

  
  


I looked over at Naegi next to me, and he too was smiling. I got a small glance at his monitor, and saw his family smiling back at him. 

“So it’s a video about who the most important people to us are…” I said to myself. I looked back at my screen, and gasped again. 

“But then…” Monokuma said. The screen went static, and what I saw next was horrifying beyond belief. There, all my friends that I had been performing with for several years, lay unconscious on the same stage. Monokuma’s evil smiling face showed up on the screen in the back of the stage. “This ultra-successful team suddenly fell apart! None of them will ever perform on stage again. None of them will ever feel the warmth of the spotlight… For Maizono, there’s simply nowhere for her to return to. So here’s the billion-dollar question: What oh what could have caused the group to go to pieces? Look for the answer after graduation!”

The video ended. 

“No…” I breathed. I slowly took off my headphones and stepped back. I couldn’t breathe. I felt my entire world crash in on itself. And that was then, I finally knew, I finally knew what that bastard Monokuma meant. 

Despair. 

Pure and unbridled despair. 


	4. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maizono’s desperation manifests in the form of a devious plan. In one last ditch effort to see her friends from her pop crew, she plots to murder one of the 14 people she had come so close to, implicating her own best friend and potentially subjecting everyone to execution.
> 
> But it doesn’t go to plan, and the consequences are deadly, in a way no-one could predict.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Totally forgot to put a summary when I uploaded this haha whoops~

I took off my headphones. Slowly, I backed up. I felt my back touch the wall. My breaths were fast and shallow. I couldn’t feel my fingers. My legs had turned to jelly. The cries of my friends turned to white noise. 

I couldn’t think. 

I couldn’t hear. 

I couldn’t see. 

I couldn’t breathe. 

I felt a hand touch my shoulder. 

“Maizono?” A voice asked. 

“AHHHH!!!” I screamed, all my senses flooding back like a wrecking ball to my stomach. Naegi was looking at me, clutching my shoulder as I fell to the floor. 

“MAIZONO!” He yelled, supporting me as I climbed back onto my feet. “Maizono, are you okay?”

I looked at him. His face was white and covered in a cold sweat. I felt everyone’s eyes on me. “NO!” I smacked his arm away. “Get away from me!” I scrambled towards the door. “I have to get out of here! I have to see! I have to know!” I burst open the doors and ran as fast as I could. 

“WAIT!” I heard Naegi cry, but I didn’t stop, I just kept running. 

To where? I didn’t know. I just had to get out. I had to run. I had to do SOMETHING. I stumbled, and Naegi used that opportunity to grab my arm, halting me in my tracks. 

“Sayaka, stop!” Naegi shouted. 

And I did. 

I turned around slowly. “You… Naegi…” I said softly, feeling tears well up in my eyes. Everyone else had gathered into the hallway to watch the spectacle. Apparently I hadn’t gotten very far. 

“Come on.” He half-dragged me into one of the empty classrooms and shut the door. 

“You… you called me… you called me Sayaka…” I said slowly. I wasn’t sure how I felt. 

“I’m sorry I-“

“Makoto…” I breathed. He stopped dead in his tracks. “I’m so scared, Makoto, I have to get out. I have to get out of here!”

“Sayaka, calm down!”

“I can’t! How can I be calm, Makoto?” I started sobbing. “What am I supposed to do? My friends, they’re-“

“Sayaka, please, listen to me.” He said softly. He grabbed my arms tenderly and looked me in the eye. Once again I saw my pathetic reflection in them. “I said it before: I’ll protect you. I’ll do anything for you. Please, let me help.”

“A-Anything?” I sniffed. 

He nodded and smiled. “Of course.”

“MAKOTOOO!!!” I wailed, thrusting my face into his chest. “Thank you! Thank you.” I sniffed. I stood up, regaining my composure. In an instant, my friend had rekindled my spirits. I smiled at him. “And of course, I will help you! As your Ultimate Assistant!”

He laughed awkwardly. “Ahaha, of course.”

Suddenly, Monokuma burst out of nowhere, sweat on his smug face. “Oohooo, it’s standing up!” He panted. 

Makoto looked confused. “Huh?”

“I-it’s standing up!” Monokuma repeated. “Your flagpole~”

I turned away, repressing the urge to vomit. 

“W-What!?” Makoto cried, completely falling for the bait. “Screw you! Why can’t you just leave us alone!?” He yelled. I turned back, seeing him raise a fist and throw it towards Monokuma, who dodged with ease. 

“Ugh!” Monokuma sighed. “You’re too slow! Slow! Slow! SLOW!” He cried. “I could have downed an entire 1000-course dinner in the time it took for you to throw that punch!” He chuckled playfully. “Good thing too, or you would have just broken a school regulation~” 

Makoto’s face was red and his fists were clenched. “Just get out of here!” 

“Hmph.” Monokuma pouted. “Fine! But I better see some killing pretty soon!” 

“Never! I’ll never give you the satisfaction!” Makoto cried. “Nor would anyone else here! So screw you and your stupid motive!” 

Monokuma vanished. 

An awful, evil, disgusting thought wormed its way into my brain like a prion. That motive video, it may have been nothing more than a catalyst for us to start murdering each other, but… “I have to know.” I whispered quietly to myself. Makoto didn’t seem to notice. I looked at Makoto carefully. He looked back at me and smiled. 

“Makoto…” I breathed. 

“Yeah?”

“You said you’d do anything for me, right?”

“Of course.” He looked nervous. “We will get out of here. That’s a promise.” 

I swallowed. I couldn’t believe I was considering it. But the video kept plaguing my mind. My friends… I had to know. 

“Hey, Maizono.” Makoto said. 

“Huh?” I responded. “M-Makoto, you can keep calling me Sayaka… I-I don’t mind…" I said softly.

“Oh. O-Okay.” Makoto replied. “Sayaka?” 

“Y-yeah?” 

“This is probably a dumb idea, but… Ishimaru suggested we tell each other what was in our videos, so that there would be less of a motive.” He explained. “Would you wanna tell me yours?” He asked. He looked scared.

I shook my head. “No, I couldn’t. I don’t wanna think about it.” 

Makoto nodded. “I understand. Did you wanna know mine?”

I shook my head again. 

“Okay. Thank you, Sayaka. Do you want me to help you back to your dorm?”

I nodded. 

“Cool.” He held the classroom door open and together we walked back to our dorm rooms. Ogami was waiting for us. 

“Glad to see you’re both okay.” Ogami said. “That was very brave of you, Naegi. Thank you.”

“Ehehe, I was just worried. Who wouldn’t be after those videos?”

Ogami looked down. “Hmm. Exactly. Are you feeling any better, Maizono?”

It was hard not to be intimidated by Ogami’s tall and imposing figure, but her kind and down-to-earth nature made her so likeable. 

“Yes, thank you, Ogami. Makoto helped me get back to reality.”

“Makoto, huh?” Ogami smiled knowingly. “I see. I’m glad you two are close. Adapting to life here is key to survival, but having close friends you can rely on and confide in is paramount to _living_. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I swallowed. “Of course.” 

“Well, with that, I bid you both farewell. Have pleasant dreams. We will all convene in the morning as usual, I’m sure.” 

I nodded. “Of course. Goodnight, Ogami.”

“Goodnight, Ogami.” Makoto echoed. 

Ogami turned and walked into her bedroom. 

“Well, goodnight Sayaka.” Makoto smiled. 

“Goodnight, Makoto.” I said and watched as he walked into his bedroom. As I opened the door to my bedroom, I thought I saw Kuwata’s head peer around from his bedroom door out of the corner of my eye. 

*

Two hours later, I still couldn’t sleep. The idea my brain conjured up earlier still festered away in the back of my mind, along with the video I was forced to watch. It wasn’t enough to convince myself it wasn’t real, cause I knew damn well it was. Which meant that… my friends… 

“No.” I said. I got off my bed and stood up. I walked over to the door. I could feel it mocking me. I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. No-one was around. The whole place was dead silent. Which meant- I gulped. I couldn’t believe I was actually going through with this. 

But I had no choice. There was no other way. I paced up and down the hallway, eyeing all the nameplates as I did. One of these people has to die, just so I can leave. Is that a price I’m willing to pay? 

“I have no choice.” I thought. Thus I set my plan to action: I walked down the hallway to the dining hall. It wasn’t quite nighttime yet, but it was close. 

“Hi, Maizono!” Asahina’s eager voice cried. “Are you feeling any better?”

“Oh!” I jumped. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the dining hall, that was an issue. “Yeah, Makoto really helped me.”

She giggled. “That’s good.” She sipped her tea. Ogami just smiled and nodded. 

I nodded back and headed into the kitchen. I looked at the set of kitchen knives. 

_“There’s a set of knives in the kitchen, we’d best be careful._ ” I remembered Kuwata’s remark from after we first searched the school. 

“Kuwata…” I whispered to myself. I felt really bad, but he’d probably be the only one who’d fall for my trap. Apart from Makoto of course, but there’s no way I could hurt him… “Makoto…” I breathed out loud. I was hurting him by doing this, but I had no other choice. I’ve come this far already anyway. I grabbed a large knife from the set and hid it underneath my shirt. I walked out of the kitchen, exhaling deeply. 

“Are you alright, Maizono?” Ogami asked, eyeing me with a concerned expression.

“Ah, yes. I’m fine.” I said hurriedly. “I just needed a drink of water.”

“Hmm. Fair enough.” Ogami stood up. “Thank you for the tea, Hina. We should head back to our rooms.”

“I-I mean... I was hoping you could stay in my room tonight....” Hina said softly. “I could use some company.” She stood up.

“Of course, Hina.” Ogami replied. They both picked up their cups and saucers and walked into the kitchen. 

I casually walked out of the dining hall, feigning calmness. Once I was in the hallway, I quickly ran back to my room, holding onto the knife very carefully. Once I was inside my room, I breathed a sigh of relief. Just then, Monokuma’s nighttime announcement went off. By now, most people will be in their rooms. I stepped out into the hallway, and once again it was dead silent. Apart from Ogami and Asahina, everyone else must have stayed in their rooms after watching the video, and I don’t blame them. If everyone’s video was as horrifying as mine…

“And yet, I’m the only one plotting to kill someone.” I said out loud. I was glad that everyone’s rooms were soundproof, but my own words scared me. Once again I asked myself why the hell I was going through with this plan again, and again the video played in my mind. Monokuma had played me like a fiddle, and I was letting him do it. 

I walked to Makoto’s room and stopped outside his door. Is his life less important than my own? Can I really be this selfish?

“No, I’m doing this for my friends. My band, my pop group… I can’t just leave them behind.” I took a deep breath. With an unsteady hand, I knocked on Makoto’s door. 

The door opened ajar, and Makoto slowly peered around it. Once he saw it was me, he opened it all the way. “Ah! Sayaka! Are you alright?”

“C-Can I come in?” I said shakily. I clutched my arm, and I could tell I was sweating. 

“Ah, sure.” He stepped aside and let me through, closing the door after me. “Are you alright, Sayaka?” He asked again.

I rubbed my arm. “N-No… I’m s-so s-scared... “

He gulped. “Would you mind telling me what happened?”

“I-I-I was struggling to go to sl-sleep, a-and I h-heard my doorknob rattle... l-like someone was trying to force their w-way into my r-room…” I may have been lying, but my fear was very real. “I’m so s-scared… what do I do? What if they come back? What if they-”

“Ah-” Makoto interrupted. “Don’t say things like that!” He looked around, deep in thought. “Well, what if, if you’re really feeling scared, you could sleep in my room tonight?”

“Ah!” I gasp. “Isn’t that kind of… weird? Two people sharing the same room?”

He looked shocked. “Ah! No! I didn’t mean that! Haha, I meant like, we could _swap_ rooms.”

“S-swap rooms?” I giggled. “That’s a good idea, Makoto. And don’t worry, I knew you weren’t thinking any dirty thoughts like that, haha.” I smile at him.

“Ehehe, yeah…”

“Like I said, I’m psychic!”

He rolled his eyes. “You can’t fool me, I know it’s just your intuition.”

“Heehee, or is it?”

He laughed. “You seem to be in a better mood now. Oh, right. I should give you my room key.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key with his name on it. “We can swap back in the morning when we go to breakfast.”

“That’s a good idea.” I handed him the key I had in my hand. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Oh, wait!” Makoto exclaimed. “Before I go, I should explain one thing: There’s a trick to opening my bathroom door. The door doesn’t quite fit right in my doorframe. You just have to lift up the door as you turn the knob and it should open fine.”

“Oh, thank you! The water isn’t on during the night anyway, but I might use it when I wake up in the morning.”

“Sounds good. Anyways, sleep tight, Sayaka. And stay safe, okay?”

I nodded. “You too, Makoto.” 

Makoto smiled, and left his own bedroom. 

*

Two hours later, and it was time. 

I exhaled deeply. I still couldn’t believe I was going through with this, but I couldn’t back down. I laid down on his bed very briefly, careful not to fall asleep. His mattress was hard. Not incredibly hard, but noticeably harder than my own. Maybe the boys’ beds were all like that. I turned my head to the side and saw a notepad that hadn’t been used, and I saw my opportunity. I got up from the bed and walked over to the notepad. 

“I’d best be careful. Kirigiri is smart and she’s very resourceful.” I pulled down my sleeve so I wouldn’t leave any fingerprints on the pen. I very carefully thought about what I was writing, and who too. I couldn’t just pick anybody, after what we just saw, most people are unlikely to fall for a message from anyone, so I was careful to sign it with my first name. I ripped the sheet off the paper carefully and walked out of Makoto’s room. Folding it and putting it in my pocket, I stepped back out into the hallway once again. I swapped the nameplates on mine and Makoto’s door. Implicating my best friend to murder, how cruel. But I couldn’t let my guilt plague me now. Save it for once I get out of here. Besides, Makoto said he’d help me get out, no matter the cost. I then walked to Kuwata’s room and placed the note. I knocked on his door then ran back to Makoto’s room, which now bore my nameplate. I shut the door and sat on Makoto’s bed and waited. 

A few minutes later, I heard a knock at my door. I drew the knife, holding it behind my back, and opened the door. 

“Sayaka?” I heard a voice say. 

My heart dropped. “M-Makoto?”

Makoto looked at me, shocked and confused. Behind him, Kuwata stood, equally shocked and confused. 

“Sayaka, I thought we agreed to never open our doors to anyone.” Makoto looked hurt. “Was that a lie?”

“Makoto, I-“

“And why are our nameplates switched?” Makoto asked. He looked at me suspiciously. “Sayaka, what were you doing?” He asked slowly. 

“Wait, switched?” Kuwata asked. “What do you mean?” 

“Ah, I should explain.” Makoto said. “Sayaka, let us in.”

Admitting defeat, I opened the door all the way and let them in, shutting the door behind them. I stood by the door, keeping the knife hidden surreptitiously behind my back. 

“Wait, this looks just like my room.” Kuwata frowned, walking towards the bed. “But I thought the girls and boys dorms were different.”

“That’s because this is my room.” Makoto explained. “Sayaka and I switched rooms, because she was scared.” He turned and looked at me. “Well, at least I thought she was anyway.”

“She left me this note by my door.” Kuwata pulled out the note and showed it to Makoto, who read it carefully. 

“I see.” Makoto said quietly, handing it back to Kuwata and glaring at me. 

Kuwata’s face broke, as if he just realised something. “Wait, were you luring me here to try to kill me!?” He growled angrily. 

I backed further up against the door, sweating. “N-No, of c-course not!” I cried desperately. 

“YOU LYING BITCH!” Kuwata yelled. He grabbed the replica sword from the case. 

Makoto was instantly on alert. “Now calm down, Kuwata-“

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” He yelled, walking towards me. 

“You don’t know what you’re doing!” Makoto yelled back. He stepped between Kuwata and me, trying to push him back.

“GET THE HELL OFF ME, BASTARD!” Kuwata screamed, smacking Makoto in the head with the hilt of the replica sword, knocking him backwards. 

“MAKOTO!” I cried, stepping forward, accidentally revealing the knife. 

“Ohoho, so I was right.” Kuwata sneered. “I can’t believe I trusted you. I asked you for help! I looked up to you! And now you’re just gonna kill me!?” 

I growled and lunged forward with the knife. 

Kuwata sidestepped me and smacked me with the sword, which was still in its sheath. It was only a small blow on my back, but it hurt. I quickly turned around and swiped the knife at him again. He blocked it with the sword and pushed me back. I tripped over the bed and fell onto it. He took the sword out of the sheath and stepped towards me. I quickly got back up and lunged again. He deflected my strike by smacking my wrist with the hard steel of the sword. 

“AH!” I cried, feeling bones snap inside my wrist where the sword had struck. I dropped the knife and Kuwata saw his chance. He shoved me away and grabbed the knife. I was helpless. I looked at the bathroom door. I slowly walked towards it. My ankle and my wrist were in so much pain. I struggled with the door handle. “Stupid doorframe!” I yelled. I saw Kuwata run towards me. He held the knife high in the air, an evil grin on his face. “This is it.” I said. I was going to die here. And it was all my stupid fault. I watched the knife descend. I closed my eyes and waited for the killing blow. 

_SCHICK!_

I heard the strike, but I remained uninjured. I opened my eyes. 

“MAKOTO!” I screamed. 

Makoto stood still, in between me and Kuwata, a knife deep within his chest. “Urgh…” He moaned, before collapsing to the floor. 

“MAKOTOOOO!” I screamed again. 

Makoto Naegi, my best friend, whom I nearly used and betrayed to ensure I graduated, now lay dead on the floor, a knife buried in his chest. 

“Hck-“ Kuwata gasped, his voice caught in this throat. He dropped the replica sword and stepped backwards, the weight of his actions weighing in on him. “Naegi… why dude…?”

“Makoto…” I sobbed. I collapsed onto my knees. I crawled towards and lay his motionless head on my lap. Blood seeped out of his chest and onto my legs. I slowly looked up at Kuwata. “You. Monster.”

“Wah- ME?” He cried. “You tried to kill me! If you hadn’t have done that we wouldn’t be in this goddamn mess!” He screamed. “SCREW YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT! STUPID BITCH! STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID!” He collapsed onto Makoto’s bed, crying. “There’s gonna be a class trial for this. I’m going to get found out. I’m going to be executed.” He sobbed. “My life, my work, my hopes and dreams, all gone. In one fell goddamn swoop!” He looked at me, an angry glare on his face. “And worst of all, a goddamn innocent person died for it. This is on both of us. Expose me all you want, but neither of us are getting out of this mess innocent.”

My body shook. This was all my fault. This was all my fault. This is all my stupid fucking fault! I sobbed harder. The weight of my actions finally dawned on me. Not only did I get my best friend killed, but now I’m damning someone to whatever horrible execution Monokuma had planned for them. 

“For now, let’s get this blood off our clothes and get the hell out of here.” Kuwata said calmly. 

My breaths were shaky. “W-we’re gonna have to tell everyone…” 

“Yeah. I know. And then they’ll hate us. And then I’ll-“ He cut himself off. He sighed. He stood up off the bed and picked up the replica sword. He sheathed the sword and placed it back on its stand. 

I carefully moved Makoto’s body and stood up. “Hhhhh…” I exhaled shakily. My heart was racing and I felt the pit in my stomach grow larger and deeper. 

Kuwata walked over and grabbed the handle of the knife in his chest. 

“What the hell are you doing!?” I cried, smacking his hand away. “Don’t tamper with the evidence!”

“B-but-“

“You’re gonna get found out anyway. There’s no point. You expose me and I expose you. Neither of us win here.”

He stood back up and looked me dead in the eye. “Yeah. But at least you get to live.” 

I shuddered. Two of my friends dead, because of me. 

“Come on. Let’s get to the laundry room.” He said. 

I nodded. “Oh, wait.” I muttered. I bent down and searched through Makoto’s pockets, until I found the key to my bedroom. “I’m so sorry, Makoto.” I whispered to him before following Kuwata out of Makoto’s bedroom. 

Kuwata was standing outside the door to the laundry room. Once I caught up to him, we walked in. “Shit. I guess the water not working during nighttime applies here too.” 

“O-oh.” I said. 

Kuwata looked around, and his eyes fell on the table in the middle of the laundry room, where a bunch of fashion magazines lay. “I think I know how we can get rid of the blood.” He picked up a crystal ball that lay on the table.

“WAIT!” I cried. “Isn’t that Hagakure’s crystal ball? What are you going to do with it?”

“Follow me.” He walked out of the laundry room without another word. 

“H-hold on!” I cried, jogging after Kuwata. He turned the corner past the laundry room and headed straight for the trash room. “The trash room?” I said once I’d walked in. “Why are we here?” 

“To dispose of the evidence.” He said coldly. He threw the crystal ball as hard as he could through a gap in the metal shutter. I watched in awe as it smashed against the controls of the incinerator, turning it on. The incinerator roared to life, and broken fragments of glass lay underneath it. 

“Kuwata what are you doing!?” I yelled. 

He said nothing, instead taking off his blood-stained coat and shirt, balling them up, and then tossing into the incinerator. A 30ft gap like that would have been impossible to clear for anyone else, but it must have been child’s play to the Ultimate Baseball Star. Without a word, he turned around and left the trash room. 

I ran out after him, calling his name. He stopped outside his bedroom door. “What was even the point in that? What are you going to do now?”

“I dunno.” He said without turning around. “There’s not really much I can do. Thanks to your stupid ass…” he turned around and faced me, a terrified expression on his face. “Tomorrow is the day I die.”

  
  
  



	5. Dead Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maizono’s grief eats away at her. When Enoshima comes to help, she is met with a gruesome sight, and the investigation begins.
> 
> Enoshima makes a life-threatening mistake, but Maizono, aided by the luck her late friend passed to her, saves her life.

_ Ding Dong, Bing Bong! _

“Good morning! Your Hope’s Peak Academy Headmaster has an announcement!” Monokuma’s voice rang through the monitor. “It is now 7am, and as such, nighttime is officially over! Get ready to greet another beeeaaaayyyyuuuuutiful day!”

I remained on my bed, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. Everyone else was probably already in the dining hall by now. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to go. I wasn’t leaving. After what happened last night, how could I face them? How could I face the day? At that point, I felt it better to just lay there until I died. So I didn’t move. 

_ BANG BANG BANG! _

A loud knock at my door. I didn’t even look at it. My eyes were practically glued to the ceiling, the ceiling in question gradually losing detail as water gathered in my eyes. 

_ Rattle rattle rattle! _

An aggressive throttling of my door handle. How ironic. 

“GO AWAY!” I yelled, but it was no use. The rooms were soundproof, after all.

_ BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG! _

The desperation was palpable. I almost felt something. Concern? Fear? Grief? Who knows. For the most part, I just didn’t want to move. The banging continued for several minutes. Not that I had any sense of time anymore. After a while it stopped briefly, then one final loud bang that I honestly thought would blow the door off its hinges to finish it off, then silence. 

“Nnnghh…” Was all I could muster the energy to say. After last night, there was no way I could sleep. Makoto’s shocked face as he fell to the ground was fixed in my mind. He died saving my life, despite the fact I betrayed him. How could I forgive myself for that?

_ Bzzt! _

“Hey. Maizono. Are you alive in there?” Enoshima’s rang through a speaker next to my door. Must be part of the doorbell. “We’re all eating breakfast, but you, Kuwata, and Naegi haven’t showed up. What’s the deal?”

“Enoshima…” I whispered. I considered my options. Would  _ she  _ hate me? Or would she understand? I knew she wanted to get out as much as I did, and she knew I knew she was hiding something. I turned my head to the door. As I did, my eyes laid on the various objects sitting on the table in my room: The key to my room, my DVD, and the bronze knife Makoto gave me. I got up off the bed and picked up the knife. I read the kanji on the knife.

“Mukuro…” I read aloud. “What could that mean?”

_ “Consider this something to remember me by...”  _

I almost dropped the knife in shock. Remembering him say that… I gulped. “Did he know…?” I asked out loud. I shook my head. Of course he didn’t. It was just a slip of the tongue. “I guess your Ultimate Luck didn’t really pay off in the end, huh?” I said aloud. I put the knife into my skirt pocket and opened the door.

Enoshima jumped. “Ah! Oh my God! For a hot second I legitimately thought you had died!” She frowned at me. “Next time, at least say something.”

“Sorry…” I muttered. I didn’t have the energy to argue. 

“Woah, holy shit, Maizono! You look like you haven’t slept at all!” Enoshima gasped. 

“Ehehe…” I laughed nervously. 

“I mean, after how you were last night, I’m not surprised.” She shrugged. “Good thing you had your little man Naegi to keep you safe, huh?” She smirked.

I was thankful I was a performer, as I managed to mask my shattered emotions well. “Yeah. That was good.” I looked down the hallway to Kuwata’s room, and saw him talking to Ishimaru by his door. He looked like he hadn’t slept either.

“Jesus, what’s up with him?” Enoshima asked, shaking her head. “Anyway, let’s go get Naegi.”

I blinked. “You didn’t get him first?”

“No?” Enoshima raised an eyebrow. “To be honest, I kinda figured he’d be staying with you, after last night.” Her tone was super serious. I gulped. She must have been really concerned about me. I followed Enoshima down the hallway to Makoto’s room. As Kuwata walked past me, we made eye contact, and I watched his face fall. “Hey, Naegi darling!” Enoshima cried as she held the button next to his door. “Breakfast time~”

No answer.

“Oh my God, not you too!” Enoshima groaned. “Well, if you want your door to look like Maizono’s...” She swung her leg back and slammed it into his bedroom door. 

And it opened. 

“AH!” Enoshima jumped in shock. “His door was unlocked?”

“What!?” Ishimaru growled. He ran back to catch up with us. Kuwata still stood in the middle of the plaza, looking foolish and defeated. He slowly trudged towards us. “What do you mean, unlocked!? That fool!” Ishimaru clenched his fists. “He should know it’s unsafe at night!”

“I…” Enoshima muttered. “I think he already knew that…” She slowly walked into Makoto’s room, which looked like a war zone. There were marks on the floor from my fight with Kuwata. Gold paint was flecked on various spots on the walls and floor. I gulped. I exchanged glances with Kuwata as we followed Enoshima and Ishimaru into our crime scene. “N… Naegi?” She called out softly. She turned and looked towards the bathroom. I could only watch as she gazed at the figure on the floor. I watched her jump and let out a bloodcurdling scream. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” 

Ishimaru ran forward, and he too found Makoto’s body. “AAAAAAHHHHHH!” He screamed, clutching his head in anguish. Even with all his leadership, someone still died. I felt for him. Kuwata and I walked forward to inspect the body with Enoshima and Ishimaru, and that’s when we heard it.

_ Ding Dong, Bing Bong! _

We whirled our heads around to the monitor in Makoto’s room, and Monokuma’s face appeared, gleefully holding a glass of wine. 

“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, a class trial will begin.” Monokuma said, before the monitor shut off. 

“C-Class… Trial…?” Ishimaru said slowly.

“Then t-that means…” Enoshima looked back down at Makoto. “One of us… killed him!?”

“HEY!” Owada cried, bursting into the room to see the commotion. “What the hell’s going on-” He stopped. “Hrk-” He backed up. “No… Dude… Why man…” Owada said quietly. “Naegi…”

“Hehe, how ironic.” Togami said, standing at the door. “The Ultimate Lucky Student, the one who most doubted that any of us would turn to murder, has been murdered himself in his very own room.” He grinned. “I daresay this is a rather interesting development.”

“The fuck are you saying, Togami!?” Enoshima growled. “One of our friends just died!”

“Wait, that’s what that announcement meant, right?” Asahina said, white-faced. Everyone else had now gathered in Makoto’s bedroom. “One of us killed him?”

“It is an unfortunate truth, but it is indeed so.” Kirigiri said. 

“That bastard! When I get my hands on him…” Owada looked furious. He clenched his fists and drew his shoulders back.

“H-how d-do you k-k-know it’s a guy?” Fukawa asked, nervously standing behind Togami.

Owada blinked. “What? I mean…” He looked confused and sagged his body slightly. “I guess it could be a girl…” 

“In that case, let Ogre take care of her, haha!” Hagakure laughed.

“This is no laughing matter, Hagakure.” Ogami said bluntly. “We must investigate the death of our friend. And besides, Monokuma already has something in mind for the guilty party.” 

Kuwata started sweating. I forced myself to turn away from the body, holding onto Enoshima for support. 

“I’m so sorry, Maizono.” Enoshima said, stroking my hair with one hand, while pulling me into a tight hug with the other. “I know you two were super close.”

“I-It’s just- so cruel!” I sobbed. “Why? Why him!?” 

“I don’t think anyone could have possibly seen this coming.” Yamada said sadly. 

“O-oh... “ Fujisaki said, a choke in her voice. “Poor Naegi…” 

“Hi! Hello there! I see you guys have all seen what has transpired! Tee hee hee!” Monokuma yelled cheerily, once again appearing out of nowhere. “I have something for all of you, so please gather in the gym immediately!”

“Why not just give it to us now?” Celeste asked, tilting her head.

“Hmm… Let’s just say the gym is the place we all need to be right now.” Monokuma said slyly. “Puhuhu, I’m sure it’ll all befit your deadly desires.” He vanished.

I felt Enoshima’s grip on my body tighten, like she was furious. I could hear her shallow breaths and her thumping heartbeat. She was scared. 

“Come on, it’s best not to disobey the bear. Who knows what might happen?” Kirigiri said, quickly turning around and leaving Makoto’s bedroom.

“Jeez, what is up with her?” Kuwata said quietly. “She’s so forward and cold.” He walked out of the bedroom, following the small crowd. 

“Come on, dude.” Owada said fiercely, grabbing Ishimaru’s arm. “We gotta get going.”

“Yeah. You’re right.” Ishimaru said, allowing himself one last guilty look at Makoto’s body before he left.

“W-we’d best get moving…” I said quietly.

Enoshima looked at me oddly. “Are you alright? You’re acting a little strange.”

I looked down at Makoto’s dead body and said nothing. 

“Hmm. Good point.” Enoshima shivered. “Let’s get going.” Enoshima held my hand and we walked to the gym. I could have been able to walk to the gym on my own, but having Enoshima support me like this made me feel a lot better.

“T-thank you, Enoshima.” I said as we got into the gym foyer.

“No worries. I just… hope you’re okay. Or at the least, I hope you  _ will  _ feel okay. Eventually. This kinda shit takes a lot of time to get used to.” She let go of my hand and walked into the gym. I stole a glance at the display case where the replica sword used to be, before swallowing and walking into the gym. 

“Took your time, young Maizono!” Monokuma called out from the podium at the front of the gym. “But it’s to be expected, after all, there has just been a murdeeeerrrrrr~” He giggled childishly and hopped off the podium. “Now then, onto the main event.” He cleared his throat. “Did I ever explain class trials properly? Well, I guess this is the perfect time to explain them! At the trial, you’ll have back and forth arguments with each other to determine who the culprit is, and then you all put it to a majority vote! If you vote for the blackened, they alone will be punished, and everyone else continues their communal lives at the academy! But if you vote incorrectly, then I’ll punish everyone besides the blackened, and the blackened will be granted the right to graduate and leave this place for good!”

“What exactly do these punishments entail, Monokuma?”” Togami asked.

“Hmm… Another way you could refer to them would be… executions!” Monokuma explained.

“EXECUTIONS!?” Yamada yelled, his face turning white.

“Huh!?” Owada cried.

“W-What?” Fujisaki started shaking. “But t-that’s- t-that’s-”

“Execution is… Execution!” Monokuma growled. “Drowning! Electric Chair! Boring ones like the lethal injection! Fun ones like being torn apart like a paper plane in a hurricane!” Monokuma laughed evilly. 

“So. Catch the blackened and they die, or fail and we all die.” Togami grinned. “What high stakes you play at, Monokuma.” 

“See? I’m glad someone acknowledges my genius!” Monokuma grinned.

“Don’t compare yourself to me. You’re still my enemy.” Togami stared at Monokuma. “And when I win this killing game, I will destroy you.”

“Ooooh…” Monokuma started sweating. “You’re getting all riled up! Ahahaha!”

“Killing game?” Enoshima shouted. “Why the hell are any of you even considering any of this!?” She scoffed. “Ugh! It’s so disgusting and morbid! I’m not going to do all this investigating and get any of my friends murdered! You hear me!? I’m not playing your stupid killing game! I’M OUT!”

“Young lady, do not take that tone with your headmaster!” Monokuma spat. “And as for your attitude to the killing game, unacceptable! Inconceivable!” He slowly edged towards her. “There’s no way out of this killing game, you hear me!?” Small metal claws ejected out of his small paw, and he continued to approach Enoshima.

Enoshima scowled and walked forward. “Like hell am I going to listen to you!” She lifted up her foot, as if ready to stomp on Monokuma. 

She was going to break the rules. 

Without thinking, my hand thrust into my pocket and I pulled out the knife Makoto gave me and threw it at Enoshima. The handle hit her squarely on the back of the head and fell to the floor. 

“OW!” Enoshima cried, turning around and flashing me an angered expression. “What the hell was that for?”

“Enoshima, stop! You were about to hurt Monokuma! That’s against the rules! You know what that means, right?” I yelled.

“The last time someone broke the rules, they almost got eviscerated by an explosive.” Kirigiri recalled. “I doubt Monokuma will let us off with another near-miss.” I turned to Owada, and saw him shiver slightly. 

“Oh yeah, right. Like he could just kill me. Big fucking deal.” Enoshima pouted. She really thought she was untouchable. She turned around, and Monokuma had already walked back to his podium. “Fine! I’ll ignore it for now. What did you even throw at me, anyway?” She bent down and picked up the knife from the gym floor. As she inspected the knife, her face turned white and she immediately dropped it, falling on her knees to the floor. “Wh… How…?”

“ENOSHIMA!” I screamed, running towards her. I knelt down next to her, picking up the knife. “Enoshima, what’s wrong?”

She looked slowly up at me, shaking uncontrollably. “How…?”

“How what?” I asked.

“How did you have this knife?” Her voice was shaky, and it sounded totally different than before. 

“M… Makoto gave it to me…” I said slowly.

“B-But… How…? T-That’s not possible…” She clutched at her hair. 

“Alright, enough of that stupid crap about nearly killing you with my magical spears cause you tried to hurt me or whatever.” Monokuma called out. 

“W…” Enoshima turned around to face Monokuma, still down on the floor. “What do you mean, kill me?”

“You almost violated one of the rules, hun! That would have meant sleepy bye-byes for you, sweetheart!” Monokuma giggled. “Puhuhu, I can almost taste that sweet despair! Well, it’s too bad your little friend Maizono stopped you, huh?”

Enoshima looked at me, a deep and unsettling fear within her eyes. It was exactly the fear I was feeling after Makoto died. Her body shook all over. “That… wasn’t part of the plan…” She said quietly, as if she were trying to hide it.

“Anyway! Now that that’s all been explained,” Monokuma continued. “We can get onto the investigation! Because I am a firm believer of fair trials, I would like to present the world’s first: It’s the Monokuma File!” 

“The Monokuma File?” Ishimaru said. 

“It’s a file that has some important information needed for the investigation! The rest is all up to you! So go get searching!” Monokuma shouted, before disappearing. 

I heard a beeping noise on my monopad. Slowly, everyone took out their monopads and looked at them. 

“T-Truth Bullets?” Fukawa asked, looking around.

I tapped on the section marked ‘Truth Bullets’ and looked at its contents. It was a folder which had one file in it, called the Monokuma File. I tapped on it, and it brought up a document which read:

_ The victim’s name was Makoto Naegi. He was found in his bedroom with a knife in his lower torso. Cause of death was a singular stab wound directly into his stomach. Time of death was around 12:30am.  _

“T-That’s it!?” Owada cried. “That’s nothing! There’s nothing to go on with that!”

“Actually, it’s plenty.” Kirigiri said. “We have a cause of death and a time of death. From there, we can establish how he was killed and who was the perpetrator. For that, I’d need to investigate the crime scene and the body more thoroughly. It’s best we head back to Naegi’s room.” She explained and turned and walked towards the doors of the gym.

“That…” Kuwata said. He looked at me. I nodded solemnly to him, letting him know I was with him. “That won’t be necessary.”

“Oh? And why is that?” Togami said accusingly.

“Because it was me. I killed him.” 

Gasps filled the gymnasium.

“W-What!?” Hagakure cried.

“Y-you… you bastard!” Asahina cried, running up to Kuwata and punching him in the stomach. “Why? Why did you kill poor Naegi?” She sobbed.

“Is this a confession, Kuwata?” Kirigiri asked slowly. “You know what’s going to happen to you, whether you’re lying or not.”

“I know, and I’ve accepted it.” He coughed. He spat on the floor and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “Besides, it wouldn’t matter anyway, because I had a witness.” He turned to me, and suddenly everyone was looking at me.

“Maizono?” Enoshima asked quietly.

“Maizono, this is an important question. Is he telling the truth?” Kirigiri asked.

I stood up slowly. “Yes. I saw him kill Makoto.” 

“T-Then w-w-why d-didn’t y-you say anything!?” Fukawa stammered. “Heh, what h-happened to you two b-being all lovey-dovey?”

“I-It wasn’t like that!” I cried. 

“One thing I want to quickly check with the bear-” Togami said, but Monokuma was nowhere to be found.

“Save it for the class trial.” Kirigiri snapped. “I assume he’ll be willing to talk then.” She turned to Kuwata and me. “I’m going to take this confession as sound for now. But I still need an opportunity to look at the scene myself. Otherwise we’d just be sitting on our butts until the trial.” 

I nodded. I watched as everyone filed out of the gym behind Kirigiri, leaving me, Kuwata, and Enoshima standing alone in the middle of the gym.

Enoshima was beside herself. “W… Why…?”

“I-It was an accident!” Kuwata cried.

Enoshima didn’t respond. She wasn’t looking at him, her gaze was fixed on the floor. I glanced down, and saw she was staring at the bronze knife. 

“E-Enoshima? W-will you be alright?” I asked her. 

She didn’t move. By now she had her palms flat on the floor to steady herself, and her arms were shaking. I had no idea how the knife was so important to her to affect her like that… she must have been super traumatised by almost being killed. 

Kuwata sighed. “Well, I should go talk to Kirigiri. I guess I’ll see you soon.”

I nodded, and watched him leave. I crouched down next to Enoshima. “Hey. We should get going.” I laid my hand on her shoulder. Her face was sweaty, and she was shaking profusely. I went to pick up the knife from the floor, but Enoshima snatched it before I could. 

“Please. Let me hold on to it.” She said, her voice shaky and sounding totally different from before. 

“E-Enoshima?”

She hesitated. I could tell she wanted to tell me something, but it was taking considerable effort. 

“Hey. Whatever it is, you don’t have to tell me, okay?”

“Sayaka…” She said quietly. I froze. She looked up at me, face drenched with tears. “I haven’t felt like this since…” She shivered, looking back at the floor. “Heh… maybe this is what true despair feels like…” 

“Despair…” I whispered out loud. “Yeah. That’s how I felt when I saw Makoto.” 

“Makoto…” Enoshima breathed. “Did… did you like him?”

“Did I… like Makoto?”

“Did he like you?” 

I couldn’t answer either of these questions. I stood up and stared at the door.

“Sorry… maybe that’s not the right question…” She looked back up at me. “Did you trust him?” She slowly stood up. 

I looked her in the eyes. “With. My. Life.”

“And did he trust you?”

I felt tears well in my eyes. “Right until the end.” I lied. I gulped. The absolute betrayal on his face… I couldn’t bear thinking about it. 

Enoshima smiled. “Hmm. That’s good. In that case...” She glanced down at her hands, frustrated and deep in thought. 

“If you need time alone-“ I started, but I was stunned into silence. I watched Enoshima methodically place her hands on her head…

“I can’t.” She said. “Not yet.” She looked at the bronze knife and twiddled it expertly in between her fingers. 

“Can’t what?” I asked, before shaking my head. “What am I saying? Sorry, whatever you need to tell me, you can do so whenever you feel ready.” 

Enoshima smiled kindly at me. That smile didn’t feel forced or part of an act, it felt genuine and heartfelt, like I was fully seeing the real Junko Enoshima. “Thank you.” She looked at the knife, unsure of where to put it. In the end, she just held it by her side. “Shall we go, then?”

I nodded and smiled, before walking with her out of the gym and back towards the gym. When I got to Makoto’s room, there was a group of people standing outside talking to each other. Kuwata leaned against the wall with a sour expression on his face. I approached him. 

“Ugh! I just cannot believe Kirigiri.”

“And hello to you too, Kuwata.” Enoshima scowled, her diva act in full swing yet again. 

“What’s up with Kirigiri?” I asked. 

“I kept trying to explain to her what happened, but she wouldn’t listen. Said to ‘save it for the trial’ and that I was ‘distracting her investigation’.” He huffed. “In the end, she practically kicked me out. “Jeez.”

“I’m not sure you’re in any position to demand attention, Kuwata.” Enoshima spat. 

I wanted to scold her for that, but really I couldn’t. My contempt at Kuwata was still prevalent. 

Kuwata scowled and turned his head away, saying nothing. 

I turned back to Enoshima. “We should go in.” Enoshima nodded, and we walked into Makoto’s room, where Ogami and Owada were standing menacingly. 

“Hey, back off!” Owada growled. “We’re tryna preserve the scene.”

“Preserve the scene?” I cried, confused. “But Kuwata has already confessed!”

Ogami sighed. “Let her through. Kirigiri wants to talk with her anyway.”

“Kirigiri wants to talk to me?” I said. 

Owada tensed his jaw. “Tch. Fine.” He stepped aside, and I carefully walked through the crime scene towards Makoto’s body, where Kirigiri was examining very closely. Uncomfortably close. 

“Um… Kirigiri?” I said. 

  
  


Kirigiri looked up. “Oh good. You’re here.” She said with her usual emotionless tone. “Can you run through with me everything you saw last night?”

I started sweating. Kirigiri stared down at me. 

“Sorry, I don’t mean to intimidate you. If there’s anything you need to hide from me, that’s fine. We’re not at the trial yet.”

I nodded. “Okay. Last night I was feeling scared, because of… well, you know…”

Kirigiri nodded. “I am aware. Please, continue.”

“I knocked on Makoto’s door just around 9pm and he let me in. I told him I was scared and he was sympathetic.” I started shaking. “H-he s-suggested that we s-swapped rooms f-for the night.”

Kirigiri’s face gave no emotion, but I could tell that surprised her. “I see. But the time of death was around 12:30, and it’s clear his body wasn’t moved. So he must have come back here. Do you know why?” 

I nodded. “H-he must have come back out into the h-hall for some reason, and saw Kuwata walk toward his room, where I was staying.” 

“Why did Kuwata come to Naegi’s room?”

I said nothing.

“I see. So you don’t know anything, then?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t tell her the truth. Not now anyway. 

“Interesting.” She looked around the room, her eyes scanning the marks left on the wall from the sword. “Naegi only suffered one injury aside from his stab wound and it wasn’t bleeding, but there’s a lot of blood spread around this room. Are you sure you aren’t hiding something?”

I shook my head again. 

“Okay.” She stood up and walked over to the wall where the sword had struck. “There’s been clear signs of a major struggle, but that doesn’t line up with Makoto’s injuries, and Kuwata seems to be mostly uninjured as well.” She looked at me. “You on the other hand…” she grabbed both of my hands, surging pain up my right arm and I shook off her grip. She smiled at me. “I thought so. There’s something you’re not telling me, is there?”

I didn’t respond. 

“Well, we can go over everything in the class trial. I can put yours and Kuwata’s testimonies against each other and find the truth behind this case.”

_ Ding dong, bing bong! _

“Puhuhu…” Monokuma’s face appeared on the monitor in Makoto’s room. “Have you all had fun with your little investigating? Well if you haven’t, TOO BAD!” He laughed. “Please make your way to the red door by the gym as soon as possible, or preferably earlier. Puhuhu! See you soon!”

“What? Already? Owada growled. 

“Don’t worry, we already have a confession.” Enoshima said. “Evidence isn’t really all that necessary.”

“Don’t count your eggs before they hatch.” Kirigiri replied. “Kuwata’s confession could have been a diversion.”

Enoshima looked shocked, as did I. “What the hell do you mean?”

“This is no ordinary situation that we’re in. We have to explore every possibility.” She looked at me. “Don’t worry. I believe I may have already done that.”

I shivered. “Don’t say that! Now I  _ am  _ worried!” 

Kirigiri said nothing and walked out of Makoto’s bedroom. And we all gradually followed her one by one to the red door by the gym. Once there, we all stepped onto…

“An elevator?” Asahina asked. 

“This looks like a service elevator that you’d find at those fancy hotels.” Kuwata said. “Sheesh. What the hell is Monokuma doing?”

I jumped as the elevator suddenly started moving. I lost my balance and grabbed onto Enoshima. “Sorry.”

Enoshima looked away. “I-it’s fine.”

I stood up and brushed myself off. I side-eyed Kuwata, and we made eye contact. He quickly turned away, an angry and guilty expression on his face. Everyone was dead silent as the elevator descended. No-one dared speak, as if they all felt it would disrespect Makoto somehow. After an eternity, the elevator slowed to a halt, and the doors opened. We all walked through a small corridor and into…

“Wha… this looks like a real courtroom!” Ishimaru yelled. 

“Puhuhu… I like to keep things real and authentic!” Monokuma laughed, sitting on a raised chair that sat like a throne in the centre of the back end of the room. “Welcome to the grounds for your very first trial!” He laughed gleefully. “Please stand behind the podium with your name on it.” 

I walked around until I eventually found my podium. To my left stood Ishimaru, looking incredibly frustrated and confused. And to my right stood…

“What the hell’s with the picture, Monokuma?” Asahina cried. 

“Makoto…” I breathed quietly. For some disgustingly morbid reason, a sign stood behind the podium next to me, with a picture of Makoto’s face on it. A large red X was drawn on it, truly solidifying the fact that my best friend was well and truly dead. I turned to Monokuma, fuming. 

“Aww, I’d just feel awful if the students couldn’t participate in the class trials just because they died!” Monokuma laughed. “So they’re here in spirit, quite literally!”

“W-w-wait! You mean Makoto’s ghost is here!?” Hagakure screamed. “WAAHHHH!!!”

“Settle down, Hagakure.” Kirigiri said. “There are no ghosts.”

“Puhuhu… for now at least.” Monokuma said ominously. “But anyway, enough of that! It’s time for the class trial!”

The class trial. I stood determinedly at my podium. My best friend, Makoto Naegi, died at the hands of Leon Kuwata, who was currently standing in this very room. In this battle of wits and emotions, I will overcome the despair of losing my friend. We will find justice and make an awful sacrifice for it, but I’m going to continue Makoto’s legacy. I will carry his hope with me. I will use that hope to get me through this deadly class trial of despair!


	6. Trial 1: A Game of Treachery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first class trial! What will be revealed? Can anyone possibly forgive Maizono’s treachery!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Graphic description of the execution right at the end of this chapter. If you’re uncomfy with mentions of blood be warned.
> 
> This chapter’s a bit shorter, but that’s to be expected for such a short trial.

“B-Before we start the trial, I want to a-ask Monokuma something.” Fujisaki declared nervously. “If these trial grounds were made for us specifically, how come there’s 16 seats instead of 15?”

“Hmm…” Monokuma mumbled. “That’s a good question.” He thought for a second. “Let’s just say… THAT’S JUST THE WAY IT IS! NO MORE QUESTIONS!” 

Fujisaki jumped in fear and started crying. “S-sorry…” 

“Aw, there’s no need to apologise.” Asahina said kindly. “The bear’s just being a dickhead.”

“A WHAT!?” Monokuma cried. “Jeez, you people and your petty insults.” He sniffed. 

“Enough of that.” Kirigiri said firmly. “Let’s start by going over what we know-“

“I already told you, didn’t I?” Kuwata interrupted, an exasperated and exhausted expression on his face. “I killed him! I killed Makoto Naegi!”

“We don’t know that for sure.” Kirigiri replied. 

Gasps filled the room. 

“Huh? What? How? Why?” Kuwata spluttered, equally as confused as I was. 

“In this environment, anything can happen. Anything is possible - to dismiss any possibility could spell certain death for all of us. So, that being said, I’m going to lay out the first possibility.”

“I think what Miss Kirigiri is referring to is the possibility that you could be covering for someone.” Togami finished, a sly grin on his face. 

“Yes. Thank you, Togami.” Kirigiri said coldly. 

“I was thinking the same thing at the beginning of the investigation, which is why I wanted to ask Monokuma a question:”

“Oh? Do you now?” Monokuma said, a slow angry growl in his voice.

“Don’t worry, Monokuma. It’s related to the case.” Togami laughed. “I was wondering about the circumstances of an  _ accomplice. _ ”

“Ohoho, my! Whatever do you mean, Togami?” Monokuma tilted his furry head. 

“If Kuwata was to be an accomplice, would he also be considered the Blackened, and thus graduate if uncaught?” 

“Hmm… let’s see…” Monokuma pretended to think briefly. “Nope! WAHAAHAHAHAA!!!” He laughed evilly. “He would die like the rest of you pitiful souls!”

Kuwata gulped. 

“Oh that’s priceless! That topic wasn’t supposed to come up for another two trials!” Monokuma giggled. 

“I see.” Togami adjusted his glasses. “So the possibility of there being an accomplice drops to almost zero.” 

“I-I keep telling you guys, but you never listen!” Kuwata shouted. “I killed Naegi! Just vote for me and end this goddamn farce!”

“No! I demand an explanation!” Asahina yelled. “Why the hell did you kill poor Naegi!?” 

“I-I-I didn’t mean to, I swear!”

“Oh what, you’re gonna claim he just tripped and fell onto your fuckin’ kitchen knife?” Owada growled. 

“What? No!” Kuwata yelled, getting increasingly panicky. “It was self-defense!”

“SELF-DEFENSE!?” Enoshima screamed. “What, you’re really going to expect us to believe he tried to attack you?”

“I see.” Yamada chuckled. “It seems Mr. Naegi was on the side of evil all along…” 

“What? No!” Kuwata yelled. “Naegi wasn’t trying to hurt me!” He looked at me, staring daggers into my soul. “I was trying to defend myself against Maizono!”

Everyone looked at me in shock. 

“You’re kidding, right?” Enoshima said. “Sayaka tried to kill you?”

I felt my spirits fade and I stared down at the floor. 

“It seems Kuwata’s testimony is correct.” Togami chuckled evilly. “How delightfully devilish of you, Maizono.”

“Wha-?” Enoshima looked at me, a mixture of shock and betrayal on her pampered face. “T-That’s not true, right?”

I dared not speak. 

“Hmph. And to think I kept quiet for you all this time.” Kuwata growled. “I gave you PLENTY of opportunity to speak for yourself but NOOOO! You just thought you could sweep it under the rug. Jesus fucking Christ.” 

“Stop it!” Ishimaru cried. “We should give Maizono a chance to present her rebuttal!”

“M-Maizono…” Fujisaki said quietly. 

“S-Sayaka, please! Say something!” Enoshima cried desperately. 

“No! Kuwata’s lying!” Asahina cried. “There’s just no way!”

“Huh!?” Kuwata was shocked. “Why would I lie!? I’m already a dead man for fuck’s sake!”

“Trying to claim Maizono attacked you so you could shift the blame off yourself. Heh, what a shameful thing to do!”

“I-I-I’m telling you it’s the fucking truth!” Kuwata yelled. 

“Can we actually go over Naegi’s case first?” Ogami asked. “I think we’d be able to understand everything more clearly if we look at it piece by piece.”

“Ogami’s right.” Kirigiri said. “Going around pointing the finger, no matter how accurate it is, will get us nowhere. I shall start:” She cleared her throat. “The Monokuma file gave us some important information, if we refer to that, we can see that Naegi’s cause of death was a stab wound from a kitchen knife in the stomach. Death would have happened in mere minutes. His time of death was some time after midnight. There was also a bruise on the side of his head, right next to his left eye.”

“A bruise, you say?” Ogami raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps Kuwata’s claim of self-defense may not be so false after all.”

“W-what? What are you saying?” Asahina said. “T-there’s just no way…”

“It’s more than likely Naegi was trying to protect someone. After all, it wasn’t the first time he got himself injured trying to break up a fight.” Kirigiri explained. 

Owada looked sheepish. Ishimaru huffed. 

“After investigating the body, I also found gold paint on his head where he was struck. Similarly, there were also streaks of gold paint on the floor and the walls in his bedroom. There was clear evidence of a struggle.”

“But the thing that killed him was a kitchen knife, right?” Enoshima asked. “So where did all the paint come from?” 

“Most likely, the golden replica sword he had on a stand in his bedroom.” Kirigiri explained. “Why he had that, I do not know.”

“Oh! Wait!” Enoshima gasped. “I remember now! I saw Naegi carrying it back from the gym with-“ Her voice caught in her throat.

“With whom?” Togami asked. 

“S-Sayaka.” She said slowly, looking at me dejectedly. 

“Hmm…” Yamada stroked his chin. “Yes… it’s all coming together!”

“W-wait, slow down! I’m lost.” Hagakure exclaimed. “How does the sword play into all of this? It’s already established that the kitchen knife was what killed him, right?”

“Th-The sword m-must have b-been the other w-weapon used during the st-struggle…” Fukawa explained. “You would know that, i-if you were p-paying attention…”

“Jeez, lay off, okay?” Hagakure said. 

“It is exactly as Fukawa explained.” Togami said. 

“H-huh?” Fukawa looked shocked. She hugged herself and started moaning. “H-He… acknowledged me!”

“Jesus, get a grip girl.” Enoshima shuddered. 

“Moving on, the fight consisted of two parties, one wielding the replica sword and the other wielding the kitchen knife.” Togami said. “All we have to do now is work out who had what.”

“Oh! I get it!” Hagakure snapped his fingers. “So: Kuwata and Naegi met in Naegi’s room, where Naegi attacked Kuwata with a sword-based sneak attack!” He laughed. “But Kuwata had anticipated it, so he defended himself with the knife he brought from the kitchen!”

“There are so many things wrong with that statement, I don’t know where to begin.” Kuwata frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Let me lay it all out one by one:” Kirigiri said. “Firstly, the sheath of the sword had also been damaged, thus we can concur that the sword was not the weapon that instigated the fight. The knife struck first, and the sword was used to defend against it. Afterwards, they unsheathed the sword and continued fighting. At some point, Naegi stepped in to break up the fight, and received a blow to the head with the hilt of the sword, just above his temple.”

“Then, somehow, he ended up with a kitchen knife in his chest.” Asahina finished. 

“N-Not before whoever w-was fighting completely d-destroyed Naegi’s b-bedroom…” Fukawa said. 

“Maizono. Please. They won’t listen to me.” Kuwata pleaded. “Please tell them what happened.”

My eyes remained on the floor.

“Well, if Maizono won’t speak, perhaps I shall speak for her.” Kirigiri said. 

“W-what!?” I cried, finally snapping to attention. 

“I knew all along that Maizono was the one to instigate the fight. I wanted to lay out the other details before exposing her.”

“E-exposing her? What do you mean exposing her?” Enoshima cried. “Sayaka wouldn’t do something like that!”

“Not according to the notepad I found in Naegi’s room.” Kirigiri said. She held up a piece of paper with pencil shading scribbled all over it. “It’s an old detective technique: Shading over a notepad and using the indentations to find the message that was last written.”

“Oh!” Asahina said excitedly. “I’ve seen that in old detective movies!”

Kirigiri nodded. “Exactly. And, if you look closely…” 

“There’s a message!?” Yamada squealed. 

“Well? What does it say? I can’t read it from here.” Hagakure said, squinting. 

“If y-you can even read at all…” Fukawa jeered. 

“I’m gonna start ignoring you from now on.” Hagakure scowled. 

Kirigiri cleared her throat and read out the message. “There’s something I have to tell you. Please come to my room as soon as possible. Make sure you check the nameplates so you get the right room. Sayaka Maizono.” 

Kuwata rubbed his head. “Oh yeah. I got so wrapped up in the actual manslaughter I forgot about that one detail.”

“What one detail!?” Ishimaru said. “Explain!”

“That Maizono and Naegi had  _ switched rooms. _ ”

“Sw… Switched rooms!?” Ishimaru cried. “But that’s absurd!”

“I ran into Naegi out in the hallway on my way to see Maizono.” Kuwata explained. 

_ * _

_ “Oh. Hey Kuwata. What’s up?” _

_ “Oh, hey bro. Maizono just wanted to see me.” _

_ “Maizono wanted to see you?” Naegi looked confused. “That doesn’t make any sense.” _

_ “What do you mean?”  _

_ “Well, I was just going to check on her, cause she was really scared before. I suggested we swapped rooms, but I wanted to check and see how she was doing.” _

_ “Huh. Okay. I suppose I’ll just come with you.” _

_ “Yeah.” Naegi smiled. “Wait, hold on, why are the nameplates switched?” _

_ * _

“The nameplates had been switched?” Celeste asked, narrowing her eyes. “How very peculiar.”

“Positive. Naegi even checked the map on his e-handbook.” Kuwata said. 

“So, Maizono’s plan was to lure Kuwata to the room she was staying in, Naegi’s room, kill Kuwata, and then pin the crime on Naegi, enabling us to come to the wrong conclusion in the trial and get us all killed.” Celeste said. “How very devious, even for someone as high-stakes as myself.”

“N-not to mention cruel…” Fujisaki looked away. 

“Taking advantage of the boy who trusted in you the most.” Togami chuckled. “My my, Maizono. There’s a little devil inside all of us, isn’t there?”

“Stop!” Asahina shouted. “I still refuse to believe Maizono is capable of such evil! Kuwata is manipulating us, plain and simple!”

Ogami frowned and made a contemplative noise. 

“S-Sakura?”

“I’m sorry, Hina. But there’s one piece of evidence that only both of us know that undeniably paints Maizono as the instigator of the fight between her and Kuwata.”

“How can you be so sure?” Asahina said, tears streaming down her face.

Ogami exhaled deeply. “In between watching the motive video and the nighttime announcement, the only person who entered the kitchen during that time was Maizono herself.” She explained. “She stated at the time that she just needed a drink of water, but I understand now that was her opportunity to grab the kitchen knife to use against Kuwata.” She turned to Asahina. “We were both in the dining hall together, so we saw her plain as day.”

“Ogami, that was vital information, thank you.” Kirigiri said. 

“Well, Maizono? Have you naught anything to say?” Togami said. 

I gripped the podium I was standing on tightly, feeling my arms and legs start to tremble. I sobbed. “I’m so sorry.” I said quietly. 

Asahina gasped. Enoshima looked away angrily. 

“I betrayed all of you.” I said. “I betrayed Makoto. I betrayed Kuwata.” I looked up at Enoshima. “I betrayed you, Junko. There’s nothing I could possibly say to make any of you forgive me.” I burst into tears. “And worst of all, my best friend is DEAD because of me!” 

Silence filled the courtroom. 

“Kill me instead! It’s my fault he’s dead! Makoto died saving my life. It’s not fair Kuwata has to die too. Kill me instead!” I dropped onto the floor. “It’s not fair it’s not fair it’s not fair it’s not faaaaiiirrrr!!!” 

Nobody dared move or speak for several minutes. Finally, a clear voice spoke out among everyone else. 

“Get a hold of yourself.” Junko said. 

I looked up. “Huh?”

“We all have secrets. We all make mistakes. We all, sometimes, hurt the people we love. That’s just how life is.” She looked down at me. “But if you’re just gonna sit there feeling sorry for yourself, throw your life away on a goddamn hopeless whim, then you’re never gonna move on. You’re never gonna learn. So get up and face this trial!” 

“Junko…” I said softly. I slowly rose to my feet. 

“Enoshima is right.” Kirigiri said. “While I am not in any way excusing your actions, I wholly understand the nature of the situation we’re in. After all, we all saw how you reacted after your motive video. Those videos would have been enough to drive anyone over the edge.”

“Y-yeah!” Fujisaki looked confident. “We can’t blame you for being desperate.” 

I sniffed. “Thank you…” I turned to Kuwata. “Thank you, Kuwata. For sticking by my side. I’m sorry I tried to hurt you. I’m so sorry I’ve doomed you to your fate. Please, don’t die hating me.” I smiled. “Maybe, in another life, I’ll help you kickstart your music career.”

Kuwata’s eyes welled up with tears. “Yeah. I’m sorry too. I was an idiot. A stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid idiot. We both were.” He turned back to face everyone else. “Okay, everyone. Let’s start the vote.”

Everyone nodded. 

“Wait, who are we voting for? Maizono or Baseball dude?” Hagakure asked. 

Asahina sighed. “Way to ruin the moment, man.”

“Never mind. I’ll figure it out.” He chuckled. “To Naegi.” 

“To Naegi.” I smiled. 

“Has everyone forgotten this is a class trial or something? Jeez you all make me so sick!” Monokuma cried. “Well, at least you are all ready to vote, it seems. Alright. Without further ado, it’s VOTING TIME!” He laughed. “Please pull the lever in front of you to make your choice.”

I looked down the right hand side of my podium. Sure enough, there was a large lever that I assume was connected to the little screen on the top of the podium. I used the lever to scroll towards Kuwata’s name on the screen. Sucking air through my teeth, I selected his name. 

After everyone finished, Monokuma called out to us: “Alright! The voting has been finished! Who will be chosen as the Blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?” He laughed maniacally. He paused for what felt like an eternity, allowing us to ruminate in our painful decision. “Puhuhu! Correctamundo! The blackened for this case is none other than Leon Kuwata!”   
  


Kuwata grimaced and clenched his fist.

“This is too cruel…” Fujisaki sobbed. 

“It’s so not fair.” Asahina said sadly. 

“But… there’s still one thing I don’t understand.” Hagakure asked. “How did Naegi die? Like I understand now that you two were fighting but how did Naegi die?”

“He…” Kuwata couldn’t finish.

“He saved my life.” I sniffed. “Kuwata was ready to kill me, but Naegi stepped in front.”

“W-Why?” Fukawa asked. “Why w-would h-he do that? Y-you t-tried to f-frame him!” She pointed at me accusingly.

“Cause he made a promise.” Owada said solemnly. “And like a man, he kept that promise. Even at the cost of his own life.” He cursed. “He was truly braver than all of us.” He looked straight at me. “So that’s why you gotta live. You gotta survive this fucking killing game so he can keep that goddamn promise!”

“That’s right!” Ishimaru cried. “Live your life to the fullest, and survive with everyone else!”

I nodded with newfound determination. Everyone had my back, and I had theirs. We were all going to get out of the Hope’s Peak prison together. 

“Ugh, for the love of all that is good on this godforsaken Earth!” Monokuma cried. “Enough with the stupid ‘lol hope’ speeches! You already killed off the guy who does those!” He held out a paw with claws extended threateningly. “I very much regret not impaling Miss Photoshop over here with half a dozen spears now that all you guys are so freaking hopeful. It pisses me off!” 

Junko shuddered. 

“Then again… the despair… hoo hoo hoo… It’s still yet to come!” He laughed. “Now then, I’ve prepared a very special punishment for the Ultimate Baseball Star!”

Kuwata tensed up. “Christ. This is it.” 

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! IIIIIITTT’S PUNISHMENT TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!” Monokuma’s laugh echoed around the trial room as he pressed a large red button in front of him...

And that’s when it happened. 

We all watched in horror as a contraption came out of nowhere and hooked around Kuwata’s neck, pulling him off his feet and dragging along the floor. He tried to reach out for me but it was too late. Monokuma pushed us along, forcing us to follow Kuwata. We arrived at a baseball training net and found him chained to a pole with a scoreboard fixed morbidly above him. Suddenly, a turret-like machine loaded with a numerous amount of baseballs appeared and started firing hundreds upon hundreds of baseballs at his body. His face, his groin, his stomach, everywhere. His body was constantly bombarded by baseballs while we helplessly watched. Gradually, blood started spurting out from his body and onto the metal grating that separated us from him. 

After what felt like forever, the machine stopped, and Leon Kuwata’s stopped moving.


	7. Troubled Young Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sayaka is having trouble dealing with her hand, as well as the grief and guilt at the loss of her friend. After a search of the new floor that opened up, Sayaka takes a timid girl under her wing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! Ahaha irl stuff loooll

We all slowly trudged out of the trial grounds, through the school area, and back towards the dorms, our spirits sullen and our hope defeated. What we just saw was etched firmly into our brains. There was no way we’d be able to forget something so traumatising, ever. I was the last to exit the trial grounds and back into the school. I felt like if I left, it would truly solidify Kuwata’s death. One final act of betrayal on him. 

“Come on.” Junko said softly. She took my hand and pulled me back through the red door. Once we got back to the dorms, I felt steady enough to walk on my own, but I still didn’t want to let go of her hand. It was warm and comforting, and it was steadily holding the broken fragments of my soul together. I felt like if I let go, I’d break down then and there. 

“Junko…?” I said softly when we got back to the dorms. 

She turned to me slowly. “Yeah?”

“Could you… stay with me? Tonight? I don’t want to be alone.” I looked up at her, feeling tears well in my eyes. 

Junko swallowed and looked around. Everyone else was already in their bedrooms. “I-I don’t think that’s such a good idea…” 

“Oh. Sorry, I thought-“

“No, no, it’s fine.” She took a deep breath. “Under normal circumstances I would. In fact I want nothing more. But I can’t. Just… not right now. These are not normal circumstances. I’m sorry, Sayaka.” She turned away sadly, then left for her room. 

I was confused, but I let it slide. Could this be related to the thing she’s hiding? I didn’t know. Now on top of feeling upset, I felt confused and frustrated. What does Junko want? How does she feel? I walked into my room and closed the door behind me, sliding down the door and onto the floor. “What do I want?” I said out loud quietly. My mind was amassed with rushing thoughts, and my heart was overcrowded with fleeting feelings. All I could do was feel exhausted at everything. I slowly got off the floor and undressed. I crawled into bed and immediately fell into a restless sleep. 

*

A nightmare shook me awake. I sat bolt upright in my bed, drenched in a cold sweat. Kuwata’s screams echoed deafeningly in my ears. It was unbearable. Having no sense of the time, I warily got out of bed and walked around my bedroom, desperate to get my mind off it. I opened the door and peeped up and down the hallway. No-one was around, so I assumed it was still nighttime. I suddenly remember my e-handbook. It told the time, right? I walked over to the desk where my e-handbook was sitting and checked it. 

“6AM!?” I cried loudly. I was thankful the rooms were soundproof. There was no way I could go back to sleep, and walking around at nighttime was prohibited. All I could do was wait out the next hour, alone with my thoughts. The horror of that feeling became suddenly apparent, and I forced myself to think happy thoughts in order to block the horrifying trauma. “Makoto…” I whispered. I missed him so much. If he was still alive, I know he’d be fighting to the ends of the earth to make sure I was safe and happy. He would be here right now. I sniffed and tried to pull myself together. “No. I can’t think about these things. He’d want me to move on.” I thought about the notepad sitting on my desk. If I keep a journal, it’d help me set my mind at ease. I grabbed the pen sitting next to the notepad. My hand spasmed, as if it had been hit with 1000 volts of electricity, and I dropped the pen onto the floor. “Shit!” I cried loudly, clutching my hand. In the shock of everything going on, I had totally forgotten how much damage Leon had done to my wrist. I moved it around slightly. It wasn’t broken, but something was definitely wrong with it. Fractured maybe? It was difficult to tell. I was used to pain in my wrists from holding microphones for too long, but this was unlike anything I had ever felt. I felt frustrated. It seemed like the entire world was out to get me. “Wait a sec…” I turned and looked directly into the camera, holding up my wrist. “Could you do something about this?” I cried loudly. 

Silence. I could feel the camera focusing on me. I don’t know what I was expecting. For the camera to just start talking to me? Please. However, seconds later, I heard the doorbell ring and Monokuma’s voice came singing through the intercom. 

“Little pig, little pig, let me come in! Puhuhu!”

I rolled my eyes and opened the door. 

“You’ve got some nerve calling me at this time of the night! Ah, well, I suppose it is already morning.”

“Can you do something about my wrist? Please?” I asked. 

“Something?” He tilted his head. “I can do many things with a young girl’s wrist. But nothing sex-“

“PLEASE.” I interrupted before he could finish his foul joke. “I think it’s fractured. It really hurts.”

“Hmm…” He mused. “Well, the nurse's office is currently out of action, however, I would be a terrible headmaster if my poor students were suffering!” He giggled. “Sit down on your bed and take 5. I’ll be right back.” He said and disappeared without closing the door. 

I sighed. I did what he asked and waited. I moved my wrist around a little bit, but it was still in excruciating pain. After what felt like forever, Monokuma came back with an assortment of items. 

“Aw jeez, it’s a shame that that one girl isn’t here. She would have done a much better job…” Monokuma said in a contemplative tone.

“Huh? Who?” I asked. “What girl?”

“Oh I was just talking to myself. Don’t you worry, Miss Maizono. If I were you, I’d be more worried about people trying to kill ya. You know, after what you did to Kuwata and poor Makoto…”

My face flashed angrily at him. “Shut up! That’s not what happened! How dare you say his first name like that!” I snarled. “And they wouldn’t try to hurt me!” I held out my wrist. “Now are you gonna fix my hand or what?”

“Sheesh, so impatient.” Monokuma looked down sadly. “But fine. Since you did ask nicely before.” He grabbed my hand and started moving it around in odd directions, making it sear in pain. 

“Ow!” I cried. “Be careful!”

“Hush now, your headmaster is working.” He said, and resumed his weird medicinal technique. He covered my hand with a weird mixture and then wrapped it in bandages. “Here. You can put this over the bandages if you want.”

“A mitten?” I asked. 

“Yeah! Then you’ll look just like that one guy!” He giggled. 

“What one guy!?” I asked, exasperated. 

“Puhuhu… How I amuse myself. Well, that’s all, bye bye now!” 

“Wait!”

“Hmm?”

“Th… thank you.” I said. “It feels a lot better.” I couldn’t believe I was thanking _Monokuma_ of all people. 

“Mr. Monokuma is always happy to help! Anywho, it’s almost time to make my morning announcement! Best I dash off!” With that, he vanished.

I stood up and closed my bedroom door. I glanced at the mitten, sitting on the bed. The colours were ghastly, but other than that it was pretty cute. I grabbed it and put it on. It looked nice. I looked back over to the notepad. Suddenly I didn’t feel like writing anymore. Daytime was closing in, so I just lay down on my bed and waited for the morning announcement. 

_Ding dong, bing bong!_

I sat up. “That was quick.” I mumbled to myself. I must have zoned out or something. As the morning announcement played, I stood up and stretched. I got dressed and headed out towards the dining hall. I stood outside Makoto’s door as I walked past. I sighed. I didn’t want to be late, so I only stood there briefly. I hurried down towards the dining hall. Naturally, Ishimaru was already there, as was Asahina and Ogami. Celeste walked in right after me, then Togami and Fukawa. I sat down and waited for everyone else to arrive, listening in on everyone’s conversations, myself having no-one to talk to. Finally, the last few walked in: Owada, Kirigiri, and Junko. I smiled at Junko as she walked in, and she smiled back. She made a beeline for me and sat down. 

“Hiya, Sayaka.” She giggled. “Did you have a good sleep?”

“As good as anyone could have gotten after yesterday.”

“Heh heh, yeah.” Junko said sadly. “What’s with the mitten?”

“Oh. I asked Monokuma to bandage my wrist. He insisted I wear this stupid thing over the bandages. Kuwata fractured it during our fight.”

“What? Oh my god.” Junko put her hand over her mouth. “Should have asked me.” She huffed. “I know a thing or two about first aid.”

“You do? Why?” I asked. “I thought you were the Ultimate Fashionista?”

“Oh please. That’s not all I’m good for. I did a first aid training course back in middle school.” She said matter-of-factly. 

“Good lord.”

“Alright, everyone. Listen up!” Ishimaru called out, and we all turned to him. “I declare today’s breakfast meeting officially begun! Is there anything anyone would like to share?”

Asahina jumped up excitedly. “During my morning training with Sakura we noticed that the bars blocking off the stairs next to the gym were gone! We can go to the next floor!”

Ogami nodded. “There is a warehouse right outside the dorms that has opened up too. Has a lot of stuff in there.”

“Good job!” Ishimaru cried. 

“You weren’t out during nighttime, were you?” Celeste asked. “Remember, that is how Makoto got himself killed.”

“Ah, well-“ Asahina looked nervous. 

“Celeste, how dare you!” I cried. “He didn’t get himself killed! He voluntarily sacrificed his life to save my own! That’s not the same as throwing your life away or dying in a car accident!”

“He refused to adapt. As did yourself, and that is why things are the way they are now.” Celeste explained calmly. 

“Yeah? Well screw you!” I sobbed. 

“Calm down Sayaka-“ Junko tried to say. 

“QUIET DOWN AND LISTEN!” Ishimaru yelled. Instantly we were silent. “Now is not the time to bicker, especially about the past!”

“Yeah, what he said!” Owada said. “What happened, happened. That’s all there is to it. Let’s just man the fuck up and move on.”

“God, your foul drivel bores me.” Togami muttered. 

“M-moving on…” Ishimaru said, clearly having heard Togami’s complaint. “It seems we have new areas of the school to explore. So today, right after breakfast, I say we split up and search!”

Everyone nodded. 

“Oh yeah, I think the bathhouse just across the hall has also opened up.” Owada said. “So we have that too.”

“Noted!” Ishimaru nodded. “Does anyone else have anything to add?”

Nobody said a word. 

“Understood! Then I declare today’s breakfast meeting officially closed!” Ishimaru exclaimed. 

“Do you hafta present everything so formally?” Hagakure asked. “It’s kind of a drag, you know?”

“Formality and presentation is of utmost importance!” Ishimaru cried. “As is punctuality, which, I might add, you also seem to lack.”

Hagakure blinked. “Shit dude, I wasn’t expecting a backhanded insult like that from you.” He laughed. 

“Ah! My sincerest apologies!” Ishimaru bowed. “I let my emotions get the better of me!” He frowned. “This will not do! I must try harder!”

“Jesus, don’t go overboard, alright?” Owada said. “You’re gonna blow a fuckin’ fuse.”

After we all finished eating, we all split up and searched the school. Junko and I walked together. We checked the various areas around the dining hall that had opened up before checking the second floor of the school. 

“A library. Cool.” Junko said. We poked around the library. Togami seemed like he found his new favourite spot, so we moved on quickly. Kirigiri was tapping away on a laptop. 

“Busted.” She muttered to herself. 

As we walked back towards the stairs, Asahina called out to us. “Hey! Check this out!” 

We followed her in through a set of double doors to a small foyer. 

“There’s a pool here! A friggin’ pool!”

“Well, it is an Academy for Ultimate Students…” I said slowly. “I’m not exactly surprised.”

“Bit weird that it’s on the second floor though.” Junko frowned. She looked up at the ceiling and gasped. “What the hell is that!?”

I followed to where she was looking and jumped. “My goodness!” I cried. 

It was a giant gatling gun. A freaking gatling gun. 

“What’s a gatling gun doing outside a pool!?” Junko yelled. 

Monokuma suddenly popped up in front of us. 

“Ah!” I cried, stepping back slightly.

“It’s to stop perverts, of course!” Monokuma explained as if it was perfectly normal. “Can’t have anyone trying to sneak a peep in the changing rooms! Puhuhu!” He pointed to a small pad next to the girls changing room door. “See that? That’s a keypad and your method of entering the changing rooms! You have to swipe your e-handbook to enter the correct changing room!”

“So, let me guess:” Celeste appeared out of nowhere and began speaking. “The door will only open if you swipe your e-handbook on the pad that corresponds to the correct gender? Thus I can concur that our genders are saved on our e-handbooks.”

“That’s exactly right!”

Asahina gasped. “Isn’t that a little creepy? I don’t feel great knowing my freakin’ gender is saved on this thing.” She waved her e-handbook around in the air. 

“Creepy?” Monokuma tilted his head. “I’m trying to _prevent_ the creepiness!” He yelled. “By enforcing this, I’ve prevented any male from entering the girls’ changing room and vice-versa!”

“Hmm…” Celeste mused. “What if there was a way for someone to let a person of the opposite gender into their changing room? For instance, what if they just held the door open?”

“Impossible!” Monokuma cried. “The camera is watching, after all. If that happened, that would be regarded as a breach of the rules!”

“Then what if someone lent another person their handbook?”

“Huh?” Monokuma muttered. “Why would anyone do that? I haven’t considered it - it’s so stupid!” He frowned. “However, since you’ve brought it up, I have no choice to make it an official regulation!” Monokuma stood still for a moment. 

I heard a ping emanate from my pocket. I took out my e-handbook and saw the regulations symbol flashing. After clicking on it, I saw that the new rule had been added:

“ _Loaning your e-handbook to another student is strictly prohibited.”_

“Okay. So that confirms it.” Celeste said. “It is impossible for a boy to enter the girls’ locker room and vice-versa.”

“Correctamundo!” Monokuma clutched his belly and laughed. 

Junko turned white. “Wait, so-“ She coughed. “I-if someone were to try and sneak in…” She looked up at the gun. 

“Exactly! This gatling gun will turn them strrrrraight into swiss cheese!” Monokuma cried and proceeded to start making “Pew Pew” noises. 

Asahina gasped. “Isn’t that a little extreme!?”

“Extreme?” Monokuma repeated. “I’m only concerned for your safety, you know!”

“Ah, yes. You’ve made that painfully obvious.” I said sarcastically. “Anyway, you’ve explained it. We don’t need you around anymore.”

“Gah! The height of rudeness! And after I bandaged your hand only this morning!” Monokuma harrumphed. “But I’m bored anyway, so I’m gonna leave!” He announced and then disappeared. 

“Okay, I guess we better check it out then.” I said. 

Asahina completely forgot about the gatling gun and jumped up with glee. “Yes! I wanna see the pool pool pool!” She giggled excitedly. She quickly took out her e-handbook and scanned it across the scanner next to the locker room door. After an affirmative beep, the door quickly slid open and Asahina ran inside, the door shutting just as quickly. 

“My my, that is a fast door.” Celeste muttered audibly, her finger resting on her chin. “Well, I’ve seen enough. I will meet you all at the dining hall later. Adieu.” She bowed to us, then turned on her heel and walked out of the pool foyer and down the stairs. 

“I think that’s the nicest she’s ever been.” Junko mumbled. 

I giggled. “I guess she’s only polite when she wants to be. Anyway, let’s check out this pool.”

Junko beamed at me. “Absolutely. Lead the way.” 

I swiped my e-handbook on the scanner, and the door let me through. Shortly after, Junko followed. We came upon a weights room, filled with plenty of gym equipment. Ogami was already closely examining it, and Asahina was clutching her arm eagerly. 

“Those two make quite a cute couple.” Junko whispered to me. 

I looked away from them, blushing. “You think so?” I said quietly. 

Junko nodded and winked. “They’re perfect, don’t you think? The two star athletes. I wouldn’t count my chances on the battlefield against them.” 

I carried on through the door and to the pool. The complex was massive. The pool must have been at least 200m long, with roughly 8 lanes in total. On either side there were two sets of seats, presumably for swimming events during the summer festival. Not that there would be any festivals here anymore. 

“Wow.” I breathed. 

“It’s huge!” Junko breathed, echoing my thoughts. “Other than that, it’s not particularly exciting.”

“The heck you talking about?” Asahina grumbled from behind us, making Junko jump in surprise. 

“Jesus Christ don’t scare me like that! Oh my God!” Junko scorned. 

Asahina shrugged. “Sorry. But after a comment like that, I couldn’t just let it slide! This pool is AMAZING! I can do so many laps in this!” She jumped up and down again in glee. “Man I’m pumped!”

“Settle down, Hina.” Ogami said softly. “We will have time later. For now we need to continue our search.” 

Asahina quickly stopped jumping and her face fell. “Sorry. You’re right.”

Ogami smiled, and together they left the pool. 

“I guess that’s everything, huh?” Junko said. 

I nodded. “I presume the classes and bathrooms are exactly the same, so there’s probably no use searching there.”

“Exactly. Leave that to the actually thorough ones like Kirigiri and Ishimaru.” Junko replied. We walked out of the pool and down the stairs. 

After gathering in the dining hall and going over what we found, we concluded that we had found nothing of use to help escape, much to no-one’s surprise. 

“Tch. This sucks.” Owada grumbled. 

“Not all is lost!” Asahina piped up excitedly. 

“If you say anything about the pool one more goddamn time…” Owada trailed off. He looked exhausted, like he had a lot less sleep than I had. 

“Sorry…” Asahina’s face fell. 

I expected Ogami to snap at that, but she didn’t even seem to notice. Instead, her eyes were fixed on Fujisaki, watching her very closely. Fujisaki was sitting next to Owada and trying to get his attention. 

“Rather odd pair, don’t you think?” Junko whispered to me, echoing my thoughts. 

I nodded. “It’s strange. Fujisaki always seemed too shy to talk to me, but she seems to like Owada immensely.”

“Maybe she just likes muscly bad boys.” Junko shrugged. 

“Ew! Don’t say that!” I pulled a face. “Also, going by that logic, that heavily implies you hang around me cause you like me~” I said playfully. 

Junko blushed and turned away. 

I giggled. “I’m just teasing! I wasn’t expecting a reaction like _that_ from _you._ ”

Junko mumbled something under her breath. 

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” She said hurriedly. 

“Right! That concludes tonight’s meeting!” Ishimaru announced loudly. “Everyone, let’s all meet up tomorrow morning and try our very best!”

“Yeah sure, whatever dude.” Owada groaned tiredly and slumped his way out of the dining hall. Fujisaki quickly trotted out behind him. Everyone else gradually left the dining hall and we all returned to our rooms. 

After making sure my bedroom door was locked shut, I collapsed onto my bed. My mind was swarmed with thoughts of my life back at home, adapting to life here, and most all, Makoto. How do I continue to carry this burden? It didn’t seem like many people even cared that he was gone, or that Kuwata had been executed so brutally. Did everyone else feel the same way I did? I sighed. At least they didn’t have to carry the weight of their guilt. My sins felt heavy on my back as I lay on my front, sinking into the bed. “Makoto, I’m so sorry…” I said for the twentieth time since he died, and then fell asleep.

*

The next morning, we all gathered in the dining hall as usual. It felt like routine at this point. We all talked about nothing in particular, then split off. I couldn’t help but be curious about Fujisaki. Quite a lot of the other girls said that Fujisaki seemed too intimidated to approach them, which I felt was odd. Did she not like us? Why on earth was she so drawn to a man like Owada? Owada didn’t seem the type to hurt a girl, but I still didn’t trust his temper. I searched around the school looking for her. I ran into Ogami outside the pool and she said Fujisaki was in the foyer outside the changing rooms. She warned me that Fujisaki seemed to not want to be bothered. I thanked her and walked in, where I found Fujisaki staring longingly at the girl’s changing room door. 

“Hey, Fujisaki!” 

Fujisaki jumped. “Ah! H-hi, Maizono. G-good morning.” 

“Oh jeez, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!”

“N-no, it’s okay. I-I should have been paying attention…” She looked down at the ground. “Sorry…”

I giggled. “You don’t need to apologise!” I said, trying to sound as kind and patient as possible. “You do that a lot, you know that?”

“Sorry… I guess I’m used to it…” She said sadly. 

I didn’t comment any further. I instead asked her what was on my mind. “So what’cha doing here? I would have thought you of all people would be in the library!” I giggled softly. 

“Ehehe…” She giggled softly. It felt very forced. “I don’t know… I just… I guess I just want to be stronger.”

“Stronger? What do you mean?”

“Well… you can see me, right? I’ve always been weak. And being weak in a place like this… It doesn’t bear to think.” She sniffed. “So, I want to get stronger. Like Mondo.” 

“Owada?” I asked. “Why Owada specifically? There’s tons of other strong people here, and many of them are much better than _him_.” I said. 

She looked at me funny. “Ah, I suppose that’s true…”

“I mean, look at Ogami! She’s very strong!”

Fujisaki almost seemed to shrink back in fear. “Y-yeah. She is.”

“Oh! And Asahina too! She’s very athletic!”

Fujisaki gulped. She glanced sadly down at her eHandbook in her hand. “I-I… I can’t. I couldn’t possibly go to either of them.”

“How come?” I asked. I realised I might have sounded a bit too enthusiastic, as Fujisaki started shaking. 

“I JUST CAN’T!” She cried surprisingly loudly. She turned and bolted out of the foyer and down the stairs. 

“Fujisaki…” I said softly. I cursed myself for my insensitivity. I stomped my foot angrily on the ground and walked out. Ogami approached me. 

“That probably didn’t go so well, I imagine.” She said kindly. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed her so hard. I just want to make sure she’s okay. She doesn’t seem to know what she wants.”

“In a place like this, can you really blame her?” Ogami asked. “After all, it seemed you didn’t either.” Ogami winced. “Sorry, that was insensitive of me.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. You’re right. I should head back to my room. I’ll see you at dinner, Ogami.”

Ogami nodded. “Take care.” 

As I headed down the stairs, I watched Ogami rub her eyes with one hand and walk into the pool foyer. 

*

After a short nap, I decided it’d be best to apologise to Fujisaki for earlier. On the way to her room, I ran into Junko, who smiled at me, but continued walking down towards the main school area. “What’s she up to?” I thought. I shook my head. I didn’t want to waste my time on it, so I ignored it. I took a deep breath and knocked on Fujisaki’s door. “Fujisaki?” I said, holding the button next to the door. A few seconds later, it opened. 

“H-hello, Maizono. H-how are you?” Fujisaki said calmly. 

I swallowed. “I’m good! Listen, I just wanted to apologise for earlier. I was out of line. I clearly overstepped my boundaries and I hope I didn’t scare or offend you in any way…”

“N-no, Maizono, i-it’s fine. I just wasn’t feeling great before. B-but if you wanna continue the conversation from b-before, I-I’d be happy to listen now.” She exhaled. “I think I’m beginning to understand what you were saying.” 

“Th-that’s good!” I stood at the doorway nervously. 

“D-do you wanna come in?” Fujisaki asked. 

“Oh, uh, okay!” I replied. 

Fujisaki casually opened the door and let me in. Her bedroom was tidy, but there were occasional pieces of metal scattered here and there. 

“Hey, is that a toolkit?” I asked, pointing at an open orange toolkit on her desk, next to a laptop. “What’s that doing there? I thought only the boys had them?”

Fujisaki’s eyes widened briefly. “Oh, r-right. I forgot I l-left that out. M-Mondo lent me his. My proficiency is programming software of course, b-but sometimes I like t-tinkering with hardware as well.”

“I see. That was nice of him.” I smiled kindly at her. 

“Y-yeah. M-Mondo is really nice to me.”

“Well that’s good. I’m glad you’ve made a friend you can trust like that.”

“Trust, yes…” She said slowly. “Th-that’s something I wanted to ask you…” 

I tensed up. I somehow sensed this was coming. 

“I-I know this m-must be a h-h-hard thing for you to talk about, but would you mind telling me about Naegi? What was he like?”

“Makoto…?” I said softly. “What really is there to say?”

“W-well, he trusted you, right?”

I looked down at the ground. “Yeah.”

She sat down on her bed, and indicated for me to sit with her. “S-sometimes, I find it hard to t-trust people like that. Like if I o-open up to them, t-they’ll reveal my secret… they’ll hate me…”

I looked at her. “That’s not true at all. None of us would ever do that. And I especially doubt Owada would either.”

She smiled. “Y-yeah. I just… it’s hard.”

“Is that why you want to get stronger? Is that why you wanted to train at the pool?”

She nodded. 

“Makoto trusted me to no end. Even after I betrayed him, he still saved my life. But that was Makoto. Always helping others.”

“Y-you two knew each other, right?”

I nodded. “First day I met him, a crane flew right into the school pond. Makoto led it back into the forest, away from the school, where it couldn’t get hurt.”

Fujisaki smiled. “How very thoughtful of him.”

I nodded. “It was from that moment that I always tried to get closer to him, but I never got the opportunity, not with how busy I was.” I shivered. “Until I came here.” I could feel my spirit slowly breaking. “And now he’s dead. I’ll never see him again.” I sobbed. 

Fujisaki put her hand on my shoulder. It was surprisingly hard. “I know… I’m sorry. I m-miss him too.”

I shook my head. “What am I saying?” I giggled. “I’m supposed to be consoling you.”

She giggled back. “Maybe this is what we both needed.”

I looked at her. “Do you still wanna get stronger?”

“Yeah. I guess so. I just think… Mondo could help me.”

“Why him though?” I asked the same question from before. 

“I just… I want to change. I want to get stronger.”

“There’s more than one way to get stronger. There’s many different ways of getting stronger. People have different things they’re good at.”

“Different… kinds of strength?”

I nodded. “And I don’t just mean our Ultimate Talents. Of course you’re strong at programming, but you have other strengths too. Other things that, over time, you can get good at. If you truly feel that training with Owada is the best thing for you, then do it. But I would explore other options.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I’ve had to build up a certain amount of strength for my performances. Jumping up and down on stage for hours requires a lot of work. And I bet Junko usually goes days without sleeping due to all her modelling.”

“Yeah… that’s true.” 

“And it’s not just that kind of strength.” I continued. “I mean, look at Makoto. Owada said it himself, he was stronger than all of us. He was true to himself, and true to his word, and he fought until his last breath. I reckon that makes him even stronger than Ogami.”

Fujisaki nodded. “Yeah! You’re right!” She stood up, which made me giggle when I realised how small she really was. “I know w-what I have to do! I will get stronger! I will change, in the way th-that I want to!”

I had never heard her speak in such a confident manner. “That’s the spirit!”

She turned back around to face me. “Thank you, Maizono! You’ve opened my eyes! I… I-I want to change! N-No more being scared! Eventually, I w-will have the confidence. I will become who I really am!”

“Woah! Settle down there, Fujisaki!”

Fujisaki giggled. “Thank you again, really. We should probably head to dinner now.”

“You’re right.” I smiled and got off the bed. “Thank you for letting me talk to you. Shall we walk together?”

She nodded happily. I smiled. Maybe finally I did something to help another person. In that moment, I hoped - no, knew - that Makoto was looking down on me proudly. 


	8. A Heated Debate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sauna showdown! Owada and Ishimaru have an odd way of resolving conflicts. Maizono and Fujisaki grow a little closer.
> 
> Junko talks about her childhood, and her estranged sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning: Brief mention of pedophilia in this chapter. It’s in the part where Monokuma hands out the motives.

As Fujisaki and I walked to the dining hall, we found Ogami and Asahina waiting for us. Asahina waved and Ogami smiled at me as we walked in. 

“Hey girls! What’s going on?” Junko called, her feet in the usual position on the table. “You guys look all bright and chipper! What’s going on?”

“Secret girl talk!” I giggled. 

Junko rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, Sayaka. Spill. The. Beans!”

I giggled again then spoke seriously. “I’m sorry, but this is between us.”

Junko shrugged. “Whatever. I trust you.”

Ishimaru addressed us all and we quickly ate. However, one person showed up well-past the dinnertime meeting time. 

“YOU!” Ishimaru cried, pointing at the latecomer. “This is at least the 5th time in a row!”

“Dude, what?” Owada said. “Come on, it’s just fuckin’ dinner.”

Ishimaru fumed. “It is polite to show up to a scheduled meeting on time! If not earlier!”

“Oh brother.” Junko muttered, sinking her head into the table. Celeste, Yamada, Togami, and Fukawa all quickly returned their plates to the kitchen and silently left the dining hall. Asahina and Ogami were having a cheery conversation of their own and thus weren’t paying attention. Hagakure didn’t even seem to notice what was going on. 

“Oh for fuck’s sake man! I’m here now! Whaddya want?” Owada groaned. 

“Hhrggh!” Ishimaru growled. “It’s not just your tardiness! It’s your behaviour! Your attitude, your foul language, it’s all horrendous! It does not make for good decorum!”

“Decorum!?” Owada yelled. “We’re trapped in a FUCKING SCHOOL!” 

Fujisaki covered her ears. Asahina jumped in shock at the sudden outburst. 

“LOWER YOUR VOICE!” Ishimaru yelled equally as loudly. “It’s not just your behaviour, either! It’s your looks! The way you dress, it’s unacceptable!”

“Oh I see. Mr. Tight Ass over here is gonna judge my fuckin’ wardrobe, huh?” Owada cracked his knuckles. “You wear the same goddamn outfit every fucking day! Do you even wash that thing!?”

“Of course I do! I have ten identical uniforms!”

“I can’t listen to this.” Junko moaned and slowly slumped out of the dining hall. 

“I don’t know, I think it’s hilarious!” Hagakure laughed. 

“P-Please stop fighting…” Fujisaki whispered softly. 

Angry, I stood up and shouted at them, “SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!”

They fell silent. 

“Your yelling is making everyone annoyed or upset! Can’t you just settle things like normal people!? Why do you always resort to yelling at fighting each other!? You’re making Fujisaki upset!”

Owada’s face tensed. “Dammit…”

“Sh.. she’s right! We gotta settle this like real men!” Ishimaru growled. 

Owada snapped his neck around to face Ishimaru so fast, it was terrifying. “Oh?” He prompted. “What, you want to fight it out or something?”

“N… no!” Ishimaru cried. “I’m no barbarian! I can do better than that!” Ishimaru pointed at Owada. “I challenge you to an endurance contest!”

I slapped my forehead. 

“Endurance?” Owada grinned. “Ohoho, you’re on buddy!”

“That’s right! You and me, sauna. Let’s see who can last the longest.”

“What the hell are you two idiots playing at!?” Asahina cried. “This is stupid!”

“Silence, you!” Ishimaru cried. “This is a battle between men!”

“Welp, I don’t want any involvement in this one. Goodnight, y’all.” Hagakure stood up and stretched, then promptly left the dining hall. 

Asahina clenched her fists and huffed. “Come on, Sakura. If these two idiots want to kill themselves so badly…”

Ogami shook her head disapprovingly and followed Asahina out of the dining hall. 

Fujisaki laid her face on the table and moaned, leaving me the only one to deal with the situation. 

“A battle between men, eh?” Owada cracked his knuckles. “You’re fucking dead, teacher’s pet! I’ll show you just how goddamn tough I am!” 

“STOP IT! This is totally unnecessary!” I cried, but it was futile. 

“Maizono will act as our witness! She will determine which of us is the victor!” Ishimaru announced. 

“What!?” I cried. 

“Agreed!” Owada yelled back. “Now, let’s get to it! He sauntered off out of the dining hall, Ishimaru close behind. 

“We better go…” Fujisaki said quietly. “I-I don’t know w-what Mondo would do t-to Ishimaru… or vice-versa…” 

“Oh… okay. If you’re sure about this…” I said. 

Fujisaki sat up and nodded. 

“Okay then… off we go…” I laughed nervously. We walked to the bathhouse together where we found Owada and Ishimaru waiting. 

“Good! You’re here!” Ishimaru cried. “Now, wait out here!”

“O… okay then…” I said, very unsure and very scared. 

Owada walked into the sauna and Ishimaru followed. I heard the steam hiss as the sauna began to rise in temperature . Fujisaki stood outside the door nervously. 

“Y-You think th-they’re gonna be okay?” Fujisaki whispered quietly. 

“Huh?” I looked down at Fujisaki, who was nervously looking at the door, shaking. “I’m… I’m sure they’ll be fine. In a few moments they’ll realise how dumb they are and come out. In the meantime we should wait here.”

“Okay…” Fujisaki said sadly. She sat down next to the door, keeping an ear on it. 

An hour later, they were still going at it. Occasionally they would yell at each other, or pour more water on the rocks to even further raise the temperature. 

“Uh… you guys?” I called through the door. “Don’t you think this is a little too much? Y-You should come out now!”

“SHUT UP!” They yelled in sync. I cowered backwards and turned around. I sighed. 

“This is pointless. Hey, Fujisaki?”

Fujisaki had gone to sleep. She lazily opened her eyes and looked at me. “Yeah?”

“We should get going. I don’t think these idiots will be done any time soon.” I smiled. 

She looked at the door sadly. “A-are you sure? W-will they be okay?”

“They’re tough boys. I think they can handle it.” I smiled wider, trying my best to reassure her. 

“Y-yeah, you’re right. They’re… pretty strong.” Fujisaki slowly stood up. 

“Okay… we’re gonna go now… don’t die in there!” I called out to the boys. They didn’t respond. I shook my head. Together with Fujisaki, we walked out of the bathhouse and back to the dorms. 

After getting back to my room, I collapsed on my bed. My mind was plagued with worry about the two idiots in the bathhouse. How long were they planning on sitting in there? Will they be okay? What’s gonna happen to the loser? I shook my head. On my list of things to worry about, Ishimaru and Owada should have been at the bottom. I forced myself to calm down and, after a while, eventually went to sleep.

*

The next morning, I woke up in a worry. My first thought was of Owada and Ishimaru - were they okay after last night? I considered checking the sauna to make sure they hadn’t died in there, but I thought against it. While I wasn’t sure about Owada, I was fairly sure Ishimaru still had some self-preservation skills. I walked as calmly as I could to the dining hall. When I walked in, I was met with a shocking sight. 

Owada was smiling. “Haha!” He cried. “What’cha talking about, bro?”

“Ha ha ha! No, what are  _ you  _ talking about, bro?” Ishimaru cried back. He beamed and placed his arm around Owada’s shoulder. Owada grinned and put his arm around Ishimaru’s shoulder. 

“I… What?” I asked. I was so confused. 

Junko looked at me and shrugged. 

“They’ve been like this all morning.” Asahina sighed. “It’s so annoying.”

Fujisaki was resting her head on the table. She looked like she was sleeping, but she was smiling happily. 

“Junko, what’s going on? Last night these guys were at each other’s throats.” I asked as I sat down. 

“Why are you asking me? Weren’t you the one facilitating their ‘macho endurance test’?” She answered. 

I gasped. “I was not facilitating it! I was just making sure they didn’t kill each other!”

She shrugged. “Beats me then. Why don’t you ask them?”

“Okay…” I looked up. “Hey, Owada. What’s going on?” I asked him. 

Owada grinned down at me. “Yo, thank you so much, chick.”

“Ha ha ha, yes! Thank you Maizono!” Ishimaru laughed jovially. “Thanks to you, we’re closer than ever!”

“Yeah, we know. It’s insufferable.” Asahina said. 

“What?” Owada growled. 

“Ignore her, bro. A woman cannot possibly understand our manly bond!”

“Manly bond?” Junko giggled.

“Ha ha! Well said, bro!” Owada grinned again. 

“I’m more confused now than I was last night!” I cried. 

“I’m just happy they’re not mad at each other anymore.” Fujisaki said quietly, not lifting her head from the table. 

“Hmm… I suppose that is true.” I turned back to Owada. “So… who ended up winning?”

“Winning what?” He asked. 

My jaw dropped. “The endurance contest? In the sauna? You guys were quite heated about it.” I giggled. “Pun not intended.” 

“Oh! That! Ha ha! Who cares about that?” He cried. “After you left, we spent our remaining time becoming the bros we are now! Bring it in dude!” He grabbed Ishimaru and wrapped his arm firmly around his shoulder again. 

I could not believe what my eyes were showing me. Dazed and confused, I sat down next to Junko and Fujisaki. Once everyone was in the dining hall, it took a few moments for Ishimaru to stop embracing Owada and address everyone. After breakfast, everyone peeled off as usual. Asahina was the first out, probably trying to avoid Owada and Ishimaru. Ogami closely followed. 

Junko slowly stood up and looked at me. “I’m not sure what happened just now, but I’m pretty sure it made me homophobic.” 

I snorted. Me and my pop group would make jokes like that all the time, but hearing it from Junko… it felt different. For some reason. 

Fujisaki sat up. “What are you saying? That’s an awful thing to say!”

Junko giggled. “Calm down, miss keyboard! I’m just joking!”

“Oh. Haha.” Fujisaki said, an uncomfortable smile on her face. 

“Anyway, Sayaka, I felt like I haven’t talked to you in FOREVER!” Junko said exasperatedly. “What do you wanna do today?”

I looked timidly down at Fujisaki. “Don’t worry about me, Sayaka. You can spend time with Junko. After all, you two are very close.” Fujisaki said. 

Junko started sweating. “D- uh, I mean, yeah!”

I giggled. “Sure thing. I’ll come by your room in the afternoon, shall I? I feel we still have a lot to discuss.”

“Of course.” Fujisaki smiled. “Bye bye for now, you two have a nice day.” She stood up and skipped out of the dining hall. 

“Yo! Chihiro! Wait up, buddy!” Owada cried, finally letting go of Ishimaru to catch up with her. Ishimaru quickly jogged out behind him. 

“Well, thank god that’s over. Where do you wanna go?” 

“Well, we can swing by your room I suppose… Although I do kinda wanna check out the library…” I said slowly, simply suggesting ideas as they came. 

“The library sounds great! I wonder if they have magazines there.” Junko grinned. “Or war novels!”

“War novels?” I asked. 

“Yeah! I love a good war novel. I know right? I totally don’t look the type. But you know what they say…”

“Looks can be deceiving.” I finished. 

“I was gonna say ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’, but I suppose that works too.” Junko smiled happily. 

We walked together towards the library, chatting and laughing. Once we got outside the library, Junko stopped me. 

“Hey. Sayaka.”

“Yeah?”

She breathed deeply. “Before we go in, I wanna ask you something: What’s up with you and Fujisaki?” 

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean like, you know…” She blushed. 

“Oh my God.” I started laughing. “Are you jealous?”

“What? No!” Junko cried. “It’s just- until like, yesterday, you and her never talked. What changed?”

“I don’t know, I just wanted to talk to her.” I said, and then stopped. All I could think of was when I found her staring at the girls’ changing room. “I guess I just wanted to…” I breathed in and out. “See what was inside the mind of the Ultimate Programmer. I’m curious.”

“So she’s a lab rat.”

“No! Stop being so mean!” I punched Junko’s arm. She didn’t even flinch. I recoiled. “What the hell?”

“Oh?” Junko looked surprised and looked at her arm. “Sorry, guess I’m just used to that sort of thing.”

“ _ Used to!? _ ” I cried. “What kinda upbringing did you have!?”

“Upbringing?” Junko looked at me oddly. She shuddered. “Maybe now’s not the best time to talk about that.”

I pouted. “Okay, so when is a good time?”

Junko started to sweat. “Uh… can we drop it for now?”

I could tell I was making her nervous, so I agreed and dropped the conversation. I instead slid open the doors to the library. Unsurprisingly, Togami was already there. 

“Oh good, someone’s here.” He said sarcastically, not looking up from his book. “When you leave, which should be sooner rather than later, could you take this wretched and foul-smelling skank with you?”

I looked at him in horror. 

“What the hell’s your damage, Togami!?” Junko yelled. 

“Hush now, we are in a library.” Togami pointed in the direction of the bookshelves. “She’s over there.”

Following the finger, I found Fukawa, skulking by the bookshelf, eyeing Togami in a very odd manner. 

“Oh God.” Junko whispered. “We should probably leave.”

I ignored her and walked over to Fukawa. She looked scared. “Fukawa?”

“AH!” She jumped and covered her face. “J-just w-w-what d-do you think you’re d-doing?” She whispered. “I-I’m trying to g-get closer to M-Master Byakuya!”

I felt my face fall and my stomach rise. My body was twisting up inside me in horror and disgust. 

“Master… Byakuya…?” Junko said slowly, digesting the weird situation. She started wandering the bookshelves, clearly looking for a distraction. 

“If she wants to serve me so badly she can start by taking a bath. She reeks of rotting garbage and dog faeces.” Togami called out. 

“Shut your mouth! You’re about as foul as she is!” I cried. 

“Don’t talk to me. I don’t talk to murderers.” Togami spat, mustering the energy to turn away from us. 

I felt my blood start to boil. 

“M-Master Byakuya…” Fukawa moaned. 

“This is bad.” Junko said. “Girl, you need a reality check and a year’s worth of therapy, stat!”

“I think she needs a lot more than a year…” I said. 

“W-what are you talking about? I-I’ve never felt better in my whole life!” Fukawa smiled, drool emanating from out of her mouth. 

“Ew, put a sock in it already!” Junko said. “Anyway, I found the book I was looking for. Let’s go.” Junko grabbed Fukawa’s collar and dragged her out of the library. “Come on, Sayaka.” I trotted out after them. 

Fukawa clutched her head in anguish. “Nnnggggghhhh!!!” She cried. “W-why did you t-take me away from M-Master? Is it because y-you w-want to take him for yourself?” She pointed at Junko angrily. “I won’t let you!”

“God no! I wouldn’t touch that asshole with a ten-foot pole!” Junko pulled a face. 

“H-how d-dare you talk about the U-Ultimate Affluent P-Progeny like that!” Fukawa yelled. “Compared to him y-you are n-nothing!”

“Listen, Fukawa…” I said softly. “Going after him is going to do more harm than good. I mean, all he did was insult you horrifically!” I explained. “Why would you want to be with someone like that?”

“Do you really hate yourself that much?” Junko asked. “I’m being dead serious here, he called you a foul-smelling skank!” Junko held her nose. “Which, to be honest, he wasn’t far wrong.”

Fukawa clutched her head again. “Nngghh! F-for him to say that about me…”

“See? He’s only going to hurt you!” I said. 

“He must… r-really care about my well-being!” Fukawa moaned and put her hand on her heart. “Yes, I’ll be your clean little girl, Master!”

I slapped my forehead. 

“I’d slap some sense into you, but I’m worried you might enjoy it.” Junko grimaced. 

“Maybe we should just leave her for now…” I said. 

“Yeah. Eventually she’ll realise he’s horrible and abusive and she’ll have another thing to add to her stock of trauma.” Junko shrugged. 

“What on earth could go wrong?” I asked.

Fukawa paid no attention. She just stood in the hallway, her knees shaking.

“Oooookaaayyyy…” Junko said slowly. “Fukawa, we’re leaving now.” Junko tapped her on the shoulder, but she didn’t even flinch. “Welp. I think she’s gone for good. Let’s leave.”

I nodded. As we turned to walk down the stairs, we heard Fukawa cry and jump up, before bursting down the stairs at mach speed ahead of us.

“Jesus Christ!” Junko jumped. “God she weirds me out!”

I shrugged. After getting back to the dorms, I stopped outside my bedroom. “Hey, do you wanna chill in my room for a bit? We didn’t get much opportunity to talk today, and there’s still plenty of time before I can go see Fujisaki, so…”

Junko smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.” She followed me into my bedroom and sat down with me on my bed. I looked at her closely. Being this close, I was able to fully examine all of the details in Junko’s face. What did the Ultimate Fashionista look like up close and personal? I could see her freckles dotted all over her face, her jaw slightly sharper than how it looks on magazines, and most pertinently, her eyes: A dull yet alluring grey, as if they’re hiding a deep and emotional story behind them. 

“Junko…” I said softly. 

“Yeah?” She said. 

I reached my uninjured hand out towards her, but lowered it. “Sorry, it’s nothing.”

She shifted herself on the bed and moved closer towards me. “No, please. I… like listening to you.”

I smiled and looked deep into Junko’s eyes. What a mystery laid behind that mascara. “I just… I feel like you know everything about me, but I know nothing about you.”

Junko looked away. “I… can’t.”

“Why not?” I pleaded. “Don’t you think it’s only fair?”

Junko looked at me. At first I thought she was about to yell at me, but her body softened as she exhaled deeply. “Come with me.” She stood up suddenly. 

“Huh? Where are we going?”

“I feel a little tense. Can we take a bath at the bathhouse?”

“Uh… sure?” I stood up. I followed Junko to the bathhouse and walked in. 

“Okay. Phew.” Junko relaxed and sat down on the wooden bench in the locker room. “Now we can talk.”

“Huh? I thought we were taking a bath.”

Junko kept her voice low. “Look around.”

As I did, I realised what she was meaning. “There aren’t any cameras in here…”

Junko nodded. “I found that out when I checked this place out this morning.”

“How did I not notice that last night?”

“Probably because you were too busy babysitting those idiots.” She sighed. “Also, at this point we’ve gotten so used to seeing cameras in every room we’ve stopped looking for them.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again. She was right. I  _ did  _ stop looking for cameras. So that begs the question: “Why aren’t there any cameras?”

Junko shrugged. “You’d have to ask Monokuma. Could be anything.” 

I took a deep breath. “So, what were you gonna tell me?”

Junko flinched. “Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “You want to know more about me, right?”

I was now beginning to feel unsure. “Yeah…?”

“Okay. So whaddya wanna know?” She was stern but surprisingly calm.

“Like, where you’re from, or if you have any siblings, what your parents do for a living… Not to mention you’ve barely said anything about HOW you became the Ultimate Fashionista. Not to mention you look completely different to your photos.”

“Like I said before, it’s all photoshopped.” She snapped. She sighed. “Okay, okay, sorry.” She exhaled deeply, drumming her fingers on her thighs. “I… didn’t exactly have the best upbringing.”

“Oh?” I sat down next to her. 

“I practically grew up on the street.” She scoffed. “No, I  _ literally _ grew up on the street. No parents, no job, hardly any food. Just… me and my sister. Against the world.”

I was shocked. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “So, what about school?”

“Nope! We taught each other.”

“What was that like?” I shook my head. “Sorry, stupid question. It must have been awful.”

Junko nodded. “Yeah. Mostly.”

“So… what’s your sister’s name?”

Junko looked nervous. “M… Mukuro. Mukuro Ikusaba.”

“You have different last names?”

“Yeah. We didn’t know our parents, so we just chose our last names. My sister insisted on being different from me.”

“Mukuro. That’s a nice name. What’s she like?”

“Mukuro?” She giggled. “She’s… well… a sister, you know?”

I shook my head “I was an only child.”

“Well, yeah. We got on each other’s nerves a lot. We fought, sometimes like, physically. But we only had each other, you know? We were a team.”

“Older or younger?”

“Older. By like, an hour or something.”

“Oh wow! Twins!” I giggled. 

“Yeah, I know right?” She laughed. “You wouldn’t think so seeing us together. “She’s the smart one. Always making the decisions. I’m just… the idiot that follows her around.”

“Don’t say that! Look at you! You got into Hope’s Peak!” 

“Yeah and look at me now!” She laughed sarcastically. “Sometimes… sometimes I feel like she’s dragging out a dead weight. She’s actually tried to kill me a couple times.” She giggled. “Like, not actually. She’s funny like that.” She turned stone-faced and stared at the floor. “I know for a fact that my sister could kill me if she really wanted to.”

“Junko that’s awful!” I cried. “You shouldn’t let your sister treat you like that!”

“Oh? I don’t have an issue with it. Isn’t it normal for sibligs to fight?” 

“Well, yeah, but not on that scale!”

Junko looked at me, surprised. “I suppose you’re right. I… guess I never thought of it like that before.” She looked back down at the floor. “I suppose… just once… I would like to hear her say… that she cares about me.”

I nod sadly. “I’m sorry, Junko. I had no idea that you had to live like that. How did you become a model then?”

“It was actually Mukuro that got me in. Accidentally of course.” She chuckled. “I don’t know how she does it, but Mukuro has a beautiful singing voice. She sounds like an angel. One day, we were out on the street and Mukuro decided to start singing for food. She drew a crowd pretty quickly!” She smiled. “I started dancing, or rather standing around doing cute poses. Bear in mind I was like, 14. Apparently there was a talent scout among them, some weird dude with a cool hat. He said he liked my poses and that I had potential that could really take off with good training. With that, I did a bunch of amateur photoshoots before hitting it big!” She smiled. 

“What happened to Mukuro?” I asked. 

Junko looked sad. “Who knows? She vanished. I haven’t seen her for over 3 years. She just disappeared, leaving her sister behind.”

“I’m so sorry.” 

She sniffed. “It’s alright. Thanks for talking to me Sayaka. I feel a lot better now.” She stood up. “It’s been a long time since I’ve talked about my sister. I feel closer to her now. For now I’m going to return to my room.” She smiled at me. “You should go talk to Fujisaki now before nighttime rolls around.”

I smiled. “Thank you for telling me. I feel… a lot closer to you now. Maybe when we get out of here, we’ll find your sister again. I will talk to Fujisaki now, she’s probably waiting for me.” I quickly walked out of the bathhouse and back to the dorms. I pressed the button next to Fujisaki’s door. “Hey, Fujisaki? Are you there?”

After a few seconds, the door opened, and instead of the small frame of Fujisaki, I instead looked up at the tall, imposing figure that was Owada Mondo. 

“Oh… hi… Owada…” I said slowly. 

“Oh. Shit. Hi, Maizono.” Owada said awkwardly. “Sorry, I was just heading out. You seen Taka anywhere?”

“Taka?” I asked. 

“You know, Ishimaru.” 

“Oh! Haha! No I haven’t.” I smiled. “I didn’t realise you gave him such a cute nickname!” I giggled. 

“Don’t laugh about it, idiot.” He grumbled. “He asked me to call him that anyway, apparently it’s what his grandpa used to call him.”

“Naw, that’s still so cute though! I’m glad you guys have come so close.”

Owada blushed. “Don’t make such a big deal about it. Anyway, I’m leaving now.” He pushed past me and made a beeline for Ishimaru’s bedroom. 

I looked back at Owada with a short glance before walking into Fujisaki’s bedroom. “Hey, Fujisaki.”

Fujisaki was sitting on her bed, rapidly typing on a laptop. She looked up very briefly and smiled at me. “Hi, Maizono!” She quickly began typing again. 

“What’cha doing?” I asked. I sat down next to her and peered at her screen. She had some sort of program running, and was rapidly typing characters I didn’t recognise. I could only assume it was code. 

“Just doing some coding.” She smiled. After finishing a line of code, she closed the laptop and set it down. “How are you?”

“I’m good! What did Owada want with you?”

“He just wanted to talk.” She pouted. “We are friends, you know.”

I gulped. I never expected Fujisaki to be forceful like that. “Sorry. What did you guys talk about?”

“Oh, Mondo just wanted some advice on something. I can’t go into detail… sorry.”

I smiled. “That’s okay! I shouldn’t have pried.”

“No, that’s fine.” She said. “So, what did you wanna talk about?”

“Oh, you know, just stuff. What’s it like being the Ultimate Programmer? What kinda programs have you made?”

“Hmmm… I first started experimenting with artificial intelligence when I was younger…”

I gasped. “ _ Artificial Intelligence!?” _

She giggled. “Not like your HAL 9000 or anything, I mean basic stuff. I think the first thing I ever made was a program that could draw graphs based on sequences in a matter of seconds, then continue the graph based on extrapolated data.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“Ahaha, not really. I made that when I was about 10 years old. I was always messing around with my parents computers. I have done a lot since then.”

“Holy crap.” I lay down on her bed. “So, what about your family?”

She shrugged. “Oh, you know. I have my mum and my dad.”

“So you’re an only child too…” 

She nodded. “I wonder how many of us actually have siblings. I know Mondo does…”

“Makoto has a little sister. From what I remember. I hope she’s okay.” I said quietly. “Junko has an older sister as well.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.”

I nodded. “I hope she’s okay too.”

“W-We’ll get out of here. And when we do, we’ll know f-for sure.” She said quietly. Her stammer returned, so I could tell she was scared. 

“Yeah. We just have to be strong until then.”

“Strong… yes…” Fujisaki said slowly. “Hey… can I ask you something?”

I nodded. “Yeah?”

“Can I call you Sayaka?” 

“Sure. If you want. Was that all you wanted to ask me, Fujisaki?”

“Please, call me Chihiro. It’s nice when people call me that name. I… want to hear it more.”

“Sure thing, Chihiro.” I smiled at her. She beamed happily at me, like a child at Christmas. 

“You were telling me about different kinds of strength before… and I talked to Mondo about it.”

“Yeah? What did he say?”

“He said you’re cleverer than you look, haha.” She giggled. “He said you were right, though. Mondo told me his strength comes from his brother and his gang, The Crazy Diamonds. Where does your strength come from?”

I exhaled. “That’s… an interesting question. I guess… from music. Being up on stage, dancing and singing with my best friends, it’s a wonderful feeling that pushes me forward. And it’s not just them, either. It’s friends from school, friends from Hope’s Peak Academy. Everyone around me inspires me to keep moving forward.”

Chihiro smiled. “Yeah!”

“What about you? Do you still wanna get stronger?”

“O-of course! I want to become the person I wanna be!”

“Are you not already that person?”

She shook her head. “Someday, I want to tell the truth. I want to keep the secret I’ve hidden for so long. So that I may be comfortable in my own skin, instead of hiding behind a veil of lies. I want to be able to look in the mirror and say, ‘I am Chihiro Fujisaki. And no-one else.’ I want to erase my past and start over. Become the woman I wanna be!”

“Well, I support you every step of the way.” I smiled. “Come on, let’s get some dinner. I’m starving.”

We promptly left for the dining hall and waited for everyone else to arrive. Several minutes later, everyone was in the dining hall, chatting amongst themselves while eating. Eventually, Ishimaru stood up and cleared his throat, presumably to address us all, but was interrupted by the sound of the monitor.

“What?” Owada said. “But it’s not nighttime yet…” 

“Hello, everyone!” Monokuma cried through the monitor. “I would like you all to assemble in the gym IMMEDIATELY!” He paused. “Please, feel free to take the least amount of time as you please.”

My heart sank. If he wanted us to all gather in the gym, that could only mean one thing: Everyone looked around at each other. We all slowly stood up and walked out of the dining hall to the gym. Everyone was silent. I could hear people’s footsteps click on the linoleum, each with different pitches and frequencies based on the length of their strides and their style of footwear. Beside me, I could hear Fujisaki’s teeth start chattering in fear. Slow and begrudgingly, we entered the gym and waited. Soon enough, Monokuma jumped up dramatically on the stage and addressed us. 

“Hello everyone! I trust you’ve all had a pleasant few days, but I’m bored! Start killing!”

Kirigiri narrowed her eyes. “Is that all you made us come all the way here for?”

“All the way?” Monokuma tilted his head. “I swear it’s no less than 200 metres!” He sighed. “No, I suppose you ungrateful brats want a motive, huh?”

“It’s not as if we  _ want  _ a motive you weirdo!” Hagakure cried. 

“Huh? Do you mean that in a tsundere way? Like you  _ actually  _ want one and you’re just saying you don’t?”

Hagakure looked confused. “The hell?”

“Just ignore him.” Celeste said. Yamada looked oddly intrigued. 

“So? What’s the motive?” Kirigiri prompted. 

“Puhuhu… secrets!” Monokuma laughed evilly and revealed a bundle of small envelopes with each of our names printed neatly on them. “Everyone has some sort of dark and dirty secret that they can’t BEAR anyone knowing!” He laughed. He expertly tossed them one by one to each of us. I picked up my envelope and stared at it. It was only then did I notice how much I was shaking. “I dug deep and managed to compile each one of your most deep and darkest secrets! Go ahead, take a peek!”

I looked around at everyone else. They were all shaking in fear. I nervously opened my envelope and read my secret. 

_ Maizono traded sexual favours for fame.  _

My face turned white and I dropped my envelope in the ground. How the hell did he find that out? I kept that under wraps for years. I was 14, and this photographer wanted shots of me for his ‘magazine’. I was practically coerced. My career would have been ruined if I refused. Then he paid me to keep quiet. It was the darkest time in my life, and I made my best attempts to block it out. How Monokuma found out, I’ll never. But he opened old and festering wounds, and I could no longer cope. I collapsed onto my knees and started sobbing. Junko ran over to my side immediately. Everyone else was too stunned to move. Chihiro was shaking, barely making any sound. Her face was expressionless, as if her body simply did not know how to react. The only person who was calm was, unsurprisingly, Kirigiri. But even she had an anger in her eyes that gave her away. Whatever her secret was, it was enough to break her brick-wall facade, even for a brief moment. 

“WAHAHAHAHA!!!!” Monokuma laughed evilly. “The looks on your faces! I must commend myself, that digging sure paid off!”

Ishimaru’s face was white. “How the hell did you find this!?”

“Puhuhu…” Monokuma giggled. “That doesn’t matter now. What matters is what I  _ do  _ with these secrets!”

“What? What the hell are you gonna do!?” Owada growled, his fists tightly clenched. 

“If nobody dies in 24 hours, I will reveal all of your secrets to the world!”

“NNNGGHH!” Owada’s cry got caught in his throat. 

“What the hell!?” Junko yelled. “This is insanity!”

Monokuma only laughed. “Better start killing then!” After laughing some more, he vanished. 

Ishimaru struggled to get his breath steady. “Well… what if we just… told each other our secrets? F-for instance, I-“ He winced. “I ran down the hall in third grade!” He started sobbing. “Oh, I’m so ashamed!”

“That’s not so bad, dude.” Owada tried to console him. “But I…” He winced. “There’s no way.”

Asahina was shaking. “Yeah, me neither. There’s just no way. There’s just no way…” She sobbed into Ogami’s chest. Ogami placed a muscly arm around her. 

Chihiro finally moved. Without a word, she turned and ran out of the gymnasium. 

“Chihiro, wait!” I cried. I tasted salt. Tears had dripped into my mouth. 

“Leave her.” Kirigiri commanded. “It’s best we all rest for the night. I know it’s painful, but we should sleep before we do anything rash.” 

“She’s right!” Ishimaru cried. “As your leader, I order you to stay calm and have a peaceful night’s sleep!”

“Screw that!” Owada yelled. “I need to make sure Chihiro’s okay!” He turned and bolted out of the gym. 

I tried to get up, but Junko stopped me. “Leave them. I’ll take you back to your room.” 

I nodded. I walked with Junko back to the dorms. When we got to my bedroom door, I stopped. “Hey Junko… do you think we should tell each other our secrets? At least?”

Junko looked nervous. “What is there to gain from that?”

I said nothing. 

“I’m sorry Sayaka, I just can’t. I have too many regrets that I just can’t let hurt the people I care about.” 

I sniffed. “I understand. Goodnight, Junko.”

“Goodnight, Sayaka.”

*

The next morning, I woke up panicking. The first thing I did after the morning announcement played, I raced into the dining hall. I had to make sure everyone was accounted for. Everyone else felt the same. My heart was racing, as was everyone elses. A synchopated rhythm that spelled certain doom. After a while, all but three people were in the dining hall: Fukawa, Togami…

And Chihiro.

“I… Is this all of us?” Asahina said sadly. 

As if on cue, Monokuma popped up out of nowhere. “Nope! I’m here! I figured it would take a while for you to find it out yourselves, so I’ll just tell ya straight:” He took a deep breath. “One of your beloved friends has been  _ murdered! _ ”

Everyone gasped. Ogami clenched her fist in anger. 

“Shut up, Monokuma!” Asahina yelled. “Stop playing games!”

“Look around, hotshot!” Monokuma gestured to us. “There are people missing, right? Simple process of elimination!” 

No. No. This cannot be happening. I looked around. Owada muttered curses under his breath. Ishimaru was beside himself. I could feel tears in my eyes. 

“W… well…” Hagakure said shakily. “I suppose we should… look for them…” He slowly stood up, having to use the table to steady himself.

Kirigiri cleared her throat. “He’s right. Whether or not the information is true, we cannot afford to take that chance. We have to make sure.” 

Slowly gathering myself, I got up and followed everyone out of the dining hall. Ishimaru suggested we all split up to look around. Ogami, Asahina, and Hagakure searched the dorm area, Celeste, Yamada and Kirigiri searched the first floor of the school, and Junko, Ishimaru, Owada, and I searched the second floor. Owada and Ishimaru searched the classrooms, while Junko and I searched the library. Immediately, we found Togami, sitting in a chair, reading a book. 

“Togami!” Junko yelled, running towards him. She slammed her hand down on the desk in front of him. He didn’t even flinch. “What the hell are you doing!?”

He refused to look up from his book. “I’m fishing, what does it look like I’m doing?”

“We’ve been worried sick about you!” I cried. “You didn’t show up to breakfast this morning!”

“I never agreed to partake in breakfast with any of you. Frankly, my patience for you imbeciles has worn thin.”

“BYAKUYA TOGAMI!” Junko screamed. “Quit that arrogant attitude of yours right the fuck now! We thought you were DEAD for crying out loud!”

“Use my first name like that again and it won’t be my life you’ll have to worry about.” He scowled, putting down his book and standing up. 

“Ohoho, is that a threat, richie rich? I bet you couldn’t even fight your way out of a paper bag, Mr. ‘I have everything handed to me on a silver platter’.” She spat back. 

Togami was furious. He walked menacingly towards Junko, keeping his voice eerily quiet and steady. “I fought to get to where I am now. With blood, sweat, and tears. Not all of them my own. If you  _ ever _ speak to me like that again, I would consider you an enemy of the Togami corporation and have you killed.” His expression softened and he chuckled. “I plan to win this game. I’m not dying any time soon. Especially to a mere plebian like yourself.” 

Junko scowled. “I refuse to converse with you further. If you’re quite done inflating your ego, we have to find Fukawa and Fujisaki.”

“Oh?” Togami smiled, intrigued. “I suppose someone had a secret worth killing for. I will come with you. Not because I’m sentimental, but because I’m curious. Come. Let’s go to the pool changing rooms.” He turned the lamp on the desk off and exited the library. 

“I hate him. So. Fucking. Much.” Junko growled. 

“N-Now’s not the time!” I said. I was so nervous. Out of all the people to be alive, it had to be him. But why the eagerness? Did he know something we didn’t? I frowned. My mind went to Chihiro and Fukawa. One of them is dead, if Monokuma was telling the truth. My heart sank. I walked out of the library and to the pool, Junko in tow.

“Took your sweet time.” Togami sighed. “Now, let us go in the girl’s changing room.”

“O-okay…” I said nervously. I went to swipe my eHandbook on the keypad, but 

Togami stopped me. 

“That won’t be necessary. The door is already unlocked.” Togami said. I watched him closely. He took out his own handbook. He swiped it on the keypad. The door opened. We slowly crept into the changing room.

And what we found was a horrifiying sight. 

Suspended like a crucifix, was the bloodied body of my friend. 

Chihiro Fujisaki was dead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! As you can probably gather, Chihiro’s death is quite a sore subject for me. Plus it took me a while to decide whether to split this into two chapters or not. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys are enjoying this!


	9. Bloodlust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chihiro has been murdered, and it’s up to Sayaka to solve this case. However, there are very mysterious and unexplainable circumstances surrounding her death.
> 
> And Togami is acting particularly strange...

Junko let out a scream. “AHHHH!!!” She turned around, trying her hardest to get her composure. I was silent. I so badly wanted to run to her, lift her off the weight rack and ask if she was okay, but my feet had frozen to the floor. I couldn’t move. The first thing I felt was tears streaming down my face. Gradually, I felt the rest of my body begin to move, and I grabbed my face in anguish. 

“No…” I whispered. “This can’t be happening.” I forced myself to look at Chihiro’s… corpse. “I-I just talked to her yesterday! S-she was so happy and full of life!” I stamped my foot and yelled. “Who could have done this!?”

“My my, it seems this game has gotten very interesting. VERY interesting indeed.”

Before either Junko or I could scold him for his heartless comment, I heard the monitor go off, and the voice I had come to dread came laughing through. 

“A body has been discovered!” Monokuma said. “After a certain amount of time, the class trial will begin!” 

The monitor shut off, and I forced myself to accept the reality of the situation.

Chihiro was murdered. By one of us.

“Goddamnit!” Junko cried and punched the wall. “It shouldn’t have to be like this!” She sobbed. 

Gradually, everyone came running into the pool changing room. Ishimaru and Owada came in, equally disturbed by the sight. Owada looked furious, and for once I understood why. 

“Chihiro… why…?” Ishimaru sobbed. He buried his face into Owada’s chest.

Owada said nothing and stared at the corpse, an angry snarl forming on his face. 

“I’m sorry, Owada. I knew you two w-were close.” I said, barely managing to keep my speech steady.

Owada looked down at the ground and continued to stay silent. 

“I would have thought an obnoxious beast like you would have more to say, Owada. Your best friend has just been murdered.” Togami said rudely. “Or do you have something to hide?”

Owada’s muscles tensed. “SHUT UP!” He yelled. “How fuckin’ dare you!? Chihiro was my friend! Let me fuckin’ mourn my bro you insensitive freak!”

During that time, Kirigiri had walked in and made a beeline for the body. I hadn’t even notice her come in. 

“I’m fuckin’ done with your bullshit, Togami!” Owada cried. He turned away. “Get out of here if you know what’s good for you.”

“Hehehe, unfortunately I cannot. The game has started again, and it’s time for me to start playing.”

“Togami, for the love of god, shut your mouth.” Junko said softly, still facing the wall that she punched, leaning on her fist. 

“Yes. Please.” Kirigiri said pointendly. “Your asinine comments are preventing me from focusing.” She was crouching down below the body, investigating it VERY closely. 

For whatever reason, that was enough to shut him up. Everyone else came in one by one, each reacting to the sight of the body. 

“NOOOOOOOO!!!” Yamada cried loudly. 

“B-blood?” Fukawa cried, her knees shaking. “I-i-is t-that b-blood?” Without warning, her eyes rolled back in her skull and she collapsed on the floor.

“Fukawa!” Asahina cried, rushing to her side. She lifted up Fukawa’s head slightly to elevate it. 

“Fainted.” Ogami said. “Makes sense, she faints at the sight of blood.” She turned to the body, her expression cold. “And from the looks of it, I don’t blame her.”

“Tch. As I expected: Hopeless.” Togami said. He looked around, waiting for someone to berate him, but no-one was paying him any attention. That seemed to greatly annoy him. 

“Great! You’re all here!” Monokuma appeared suddenly. “I will now present the Monokuma File!” 

Our eHandbooks made a ding sound, and we all took them at and read the file. 

“ _ The victim was Chihiro Fujisaki. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the skull. Estimated time of death is 2:00am.” _

“Interesting.” Kirigiri muttered. 

“W-what is?” Yamada asked nervously. “Could it be? You-“

“Chihiro’s eHandbook is missing.” Kirigiri interrupted.

“Huh?” Owada said. “That can’t be right.”

“M-maybe she just lost it…” Ishimaru said, finally standing on his own. 

“I don’t think that’s it at all.” Kirigiri said simply. “My guess is that the killer took it.”

“But why would they do that?” Asahina asked. “What could they possibly hope to gain?”

“Ny theory is that it has vital information that points directly to the killer.” Kirigiri rubbed her chin and stared at the body. “We should see to it that it is recovered.”

“Gah!” Owada cried. “Yeah! I-I wanna know who the fuck did this to my friend!”

“Well, Owada. Do you and Ogami want to guard the body again this time? I’m sure you of all people don’t want the crime scene tampered with.”

“I absolutely fuckin’ don’t want that!” Owada yelled, and then composed himself. “Sorry, yeah. I would be happy to guard it.”

Kirigiri simply nodded. “Now, I will need some time to investigate the body undisturbed, in the meantime-“

Kirigiri was interrupted by a sudden noise. The noise was Fukawa, who seemingly jumped up from the floor where she was lying and on her own two feet. But she looked a little… strange. 

“F… Fukawa? Are you okay?”

“Ooo hoo hoo hoo…” She said slowly, her speech slurring. Her eyes were vacant and her tongue was sticking out. “Is that a dead body!?” She shrieked excitedly, despite her expression not changing. “Is that a dead body is that a dead body!? Kyehahahahahahaha!” She laughed excitedly, before proceeding to collapse on the floor again. 

“Sh… she’s unconscious again.” Asahina said, confused. 

“W-well… that was extremely weird…” Hagakure said. “W-wait! You don’t think she was possessed by Fujisaki’s-“ His face turned white. “G-g-ghost!?”

“What the hell are you talking about, ya weirdo!?” Asahina cried. 

“Calm down, Hagakure.” Kirigiri said slowly. “I’m sure that had nothing to do with the occult.”

“Even so, her change in behaviour was quite dramatic and extreme.” Celeste said. “Perhaps we should keep an eye on her?”

Everyone looked at each other. Yamada nodded. “That’s probably wise. I mean, she acted like a totally different person there.”

“Kehehe…” Togami chuckled to himself and said nothing. 

“Then Asahina and I will carry her back to her room. From there, anyone who is not investigating, or in mine or Owada’s case, guarding the scene, can take turns making sure she’s alright.” Ogami said. 

“Tch. What a waste of time.” Togami said. “However, her change in behaviour after seeing a dead body is very intriguing. It is certainly where I want to start with my investigation.”

“Why?” I asked. 

“Maizono!” Togami suddenly cried, pointing at me. “You will help me with my investigation!

I jumped in surprise. “What? Why?”

“You not only have known what it is like to feel murderous intent, but you also know what it is like to act on that. Your experience will help me greatly into getting the culprit’s mind.” 

I fumed. “No way, Togami! Screw you!”

He sighed. “What a shame. I was even going to let your beloved Miss Junko join you as well. But after that, there’s no way I would give you the privilege.”

“If you’re going to yell at each other, please do it somewhere else. I’m trying to investigate the murder of one of our friends.” Kirigiri said with little emotion in her tone. It was hard to tell if she was exasperated or simply being matter-of-fact. 

  
  


“Fine.” Togami folded his arms. “I’ll wait for you in the library if you change your mind, and I know you will.” Togami walked off, leaving a sour taste in my mouth. 

“Guess I better start looking…” Ishimaru said. 

“N-no!” Owada cried. “Please, stay here for a bit.”

Ishimaru smiled. “Okay, bro.” He couldn’t bring himself to look at the body or the murder weapon, so instead he looked around at the gym equipment. 

Junko cleared her throat. “We probably should…” She trailed off, but I could tell what she was going to say.

“Y-Yeah. Okay.” I walked over to the body of my friend. The way she was hanging, our faces were almost level. That freaked me out more than anything. Her face was drooping sadly to the floor. It looked like she was crying before she died, like she knew who her killer was. “I’m sorry, Chihiro…”

“You didn’t kill her, Maizono.” Kirigiri said quietly. I looked up. “We have to find out who did.”

I nodded. I forced myself to look at the head wound, and then immediately turned away. It was too horrifying to describe. I looked down at the floor and saw a bloody dumbbell. I crouched down to get a good look at it. 

“A dumbbell, huh?” Junko said from next to me. “That must be the murder weapon.”

Kirigiri nodded. “The shape and size of the dumbbell is consistent with the wound on her head.”

“Thanks. I didn’t really need to hear that.” Junko said. 

Kirigiri frowned and said nothing. Instead, she ran her hands up Fujisaki’s arms and neck. That’s when I saw it. 

“An extension cord?” I asked. 

“It seems to be. This must be what was used to suspend her body.”

“Why go to all that trouble?” I asked. 

“Clearly you haven’t seen the glaring clue in front of you.” Kirigiri said dryly. 

“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked. 

“I…” Junko said. I turned around. Her face was very pale. She slowly raised a shaky hand and pointed at the wall behind Chihiro’s body. “I think she’s referring to that.”

I looked at where she was pointing and cried in terror. “WHAT THE HELL?”

The word “bloodlust” was painted on the wall in blood. Chihiro’s blood. 

“This isn’t the work of someone desperate.” Kirigiri said. “This is something else entirely.” 

“This is the mark of a professional…” Junko said quietly.

Kirigiri frowned. “This might be why Togami was so interested. He knows more about this than we do.” She turned to me. “I’m afraid you are going to have to see him after all.”

“Ugh, fine!” I moaned. I turned back at the body, giving Chihiro one last look. “But only for Chihiro.”

Kirigiri smiled. “I promise I will solve this case and avenge the death of our lost friend.”

I was surprised. I didn’t realise how caring Kirigiri really was. My preconception that she was cold and unwelcoming was perhaps a misjudgment on my part. I remembered how much of a force of nature she was during the trial for Makoto. It was odd, she refused to tell me her talent, but I still felt inclined to trust her. 

“Thank you, Kirgiri.” I smiled. “Come on, Junko. Let’s go see what Togami wants.”

Junko followed me out of the changing room. I was glad to be away from the body. Owada didn’t seem too excited to be in the same room as the body of his former friend, but he insisted on being there. Owada was strange. I shook off the thought. My thoughts should be on Chihiro’s killer and not her aggrieved friend. We got to the library where Togami had resumed his reading. 

“Ah, you’ve arrived.” He said, clearly bored. 

“Mind telling us why you dragged us here?” Junko asked. 

“A simple, ‘thank you for waiting so patiently, Sir Togami’ would have sufficed.” He replied. 

I sighed. “Thank you, Togami. For waiting.” I turned to Junko and whispered. “Probably best if you keep quiet for now.”

Junko scowled, but nodded. 

“Well, without further ado, let me show you what I’ve found.” Togami announced. He opened a door at the back of the library and walked in. As I tried to follow him in, the door almost swung on my face. I angrily pushed open the door and held it open for Junko. 

“What is this place?” I asked. 

“In short, it’s an archive.” Togami grinned. “An archive with metric tons of information that no mere 99% would ever have access to.” 

“99%?” Junko asked under her breath. 

“Some of these police files are ones that, outside of actual investigative personnel of course, only the Togami corporation has access to. As such, there was one particular case that caught my eye. One I had managed to solve myself before we arrived at Hope’s Peak. Go ahead, take a look.” He grabbed a file off the shelf and thrusted it into my hands. 

“The geno- What?” I asked. 

“Genocider Syo…” Junko said out loud. “I-I’ve heard about this person! A murderous fiend who murders in the most brutal way!”

“This particular file points out a pattern most police departments don’t even know.” Togami smiled. “See if you can spot it.”

I flicked through the file, looking at the mausoleum of horrendously brutalised victims. Each one was suspended on a wall of some sorts with sharp scissors stabbed into various organs. On the wall behind them, the word ‘Bloodlust’ was written on the wall in their blood.

“Jesus, that’s awful!” I cried, handing Togami back the file. 

“Brutal, isn’t it? A mere normal person like you would trouble to stomach it. However for me, it is second nature.”

“That’s not something to brag about!” Junko looked horrified. 

“Anyway, did you spot the pattern?”

“Uh…” I thought for a moment. “They’re all suspended on a wall, and each one had the word ‘bloodlust’ written above them in their own blood.”

“Oh, and they were all killed by those scissors.” Junko added. 

Togami sighed. “I was right to think you as idiots. And here I thought poor Naegi trusted you for a reason.” 

“Mention his name like that again, and you’ll find your head to be a nice ornament on my mantelpiece.” Junko threatened. 

Togami laughed. “For a woman who struts around on a catwalk for a living, you sure like to talk big.”

“All YOU do is steal from poor people. I’ll take the catwalk over mass graves all day.” She spat back. 

Togami sneered. “You’re acting as if I care. Moving on to more pressing matters…”

Junko’s entire body tensed. I could feel the ground shift beneath me. If looks could kill, this entire building would have imploded. 

“...The connection I was talking about was the  _ position _ of the bodies. If you care to look, you will see it.” He handed me back the file and I forced myself to look at the bodies again. 

“I… I think I see it.” My eyes widened. “They’re all suspended in a crucifix, just like Chihiro.”

Togami nodded. “Exactly. Which is why I don’t believe this to be the work of a copycat. That detail has never been released to the public. Which could only mean that Chihiro was killed by the real Genocider Syo.”

I dropped the file, my face growing pale. “W-what?”

“You can’t be serious! Genocider Syo is in the school!?” Junko cried. 

“No questioning it.”

“How did he- or rather they, sneak in?” I asked. 

“That’s easy. They didn’t.” He smiled evilly. 

“W-what? What do you mean?” 

“The murders tended to occur between late afternoon and early evening during weekdays, and any time during weekends and public holidays.” Togami explained. “As such, detectives concurred that the suspect is more than likely a high school student.”

“Huh?” Junko said, shaking. 

“Meaning that the culprit didn’t sneak in to the school, but rather was  _ accepted  _ into it.”

“W-what?” I said. 

“So let me get this straight: One of the students in this killing game is a literal serial killer? How the hell haven’t we found them yet?” Junko asked. 

“Clearly they were just biding their time.” Togami grinned. “Or better yet, perhaps the motive was the incentive.”

“Having the fact that you’re an actual serial killer revealed would be pretty devastating…”

“Exactly. That’s why I’m more than convinced Genocider Syo is responsible for the murder of Fujisaki.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A serial killer was hiding among us and they killed Chihiro? It was too much for me to process. “We should continue our investigation…”

“Before you do that, I want to check on Fukawa. I have something to ask her.”

“You? Checking on Fukawa?” Junko scoffed. “This is seventeen layers of fishy.”

Togami rolled his eyes. “You have no idea how much willpower I am exerting.”

Without another word, we walked downstairs and back to the dorms. I slowly walked towards Fukawa’s door. Why was I so nervous? I shook my head and rang the doorbell. 

“Fukawa?” I yelled. 

After a few seconds, the door slowly opened a crack and Fukawa peered around the corner. 

“N-no… st-stay away from me!” She yelled. She slammed the door in my face. 

“Hey!”

“Togami, since you’re so concerned, why don’t you talk to her?” Junko asked sarcastically. 

Togami shrugged then walked towards the door and rang the doorbell. 

Once again Fukawa peered around the door. “N-no, I-I said g-go-“ She stopped when she saw Togami. “M-Master Byakuya!” She cried in surprise, but didn’t open the door. “I-I’m s-sorry… I-I-I couldn’t k-keep my p-promise… B-but… I p-promise now… I w-won’t let her have c-control again!”

Togami put his foot in the door before Fukawa could close it. “Is that it?”

Fukawa turned red. “I-I-I won’t let Genocider Syo have control again!” She screamed. Togami seemed satisfied and shut the door. 

“W-what was that?” I said. 

“Togami, what the hell does this mean?” Junko asked. 

He chuckled. “You’ll find out soon enough. Anyway, run along now. I’m going to do some more digging on Genocider Syo. On my own.”

We took the very obvious hint and walked off, grateful to be away from him. Our minds were still reeling from everything we just witnessed. As we walked down the hall, we saw Celeste walking towards the warehouse, clearly deep in thought. 

“Celeste!” I cried out. She turned to us and smiled. 

“Good morning, you two. I trust your investigation has been going smoothly?”

“Smoothly is hardly the word I’d use.” Junko groaned. “We just found out there’s a friggin’ serial killer in the school!”

Celeste didn’t even blink. “You are talking about Genocider Syo, no?” She huffed. “I hardly believe a murderous fiend like that would be accepted into this prestigious school, that’s just preposterous.” She frowned. “Then again, this school could be that twisted. But I still believe this is the work of a very dedicated and very cunning copycat.”

“I’d like to believe so too, but… the evidence is there.” I replied. 

Celeste shrugged. “Believe what you will. It is no business of mine. Which, by the way, I believe you have business with me?”

Her tone barely changed as she spoke, which took me by surprise. “Um… yeah! We were just wondering why you were going to the warehouse.”

Celeste narrowed her eyes. “I’m surprised you don’t know, being so close to her. I suppose my theory goes out the window then.”

“W… what do you mean?” I asked nervously. 

“I was out late last night, yes breaking my own rules I’m aware, searching the warehouse for something to help me sleep, when I ran into Fujisaki. Right here.” She opened the door to the warehouse and let us in. 

“Why was she in here?” Junko asked. 

“That is what I was hoping to ask Maizono, but she clearly does not know.” Celeste replied. 

I shook my head. “No, I have no idea why she was in here.”

Celeste clicker her tongue. “Well I do have a theory: When I saw her, she was stuffing a track jacket into a duffel bag. When I confronted her, she looked nervous and said she was in a hurry. Then she left.”

“That’s so weird…” I whispered. 

Celeste nodded. “Indeed. I doubt you have an explanation, but my theory is she went to train with someone in the middle of the night.”

“Why?” Junko asked. “Why did she do that?”

“That I believe Maizono might know.” Celeste looked at me curiously. 

Suddenly, it all clicked into place. “She said she…” I choked on my tears. “Wanted to get stronger. That’s why she did it.”

“But do you know why she wanted to?” Junko asked. 

“It most likely has something to do with her secret. The motive for this case.” Celeste asked. “When Kuwata killed Naegi, it wasn’t because of his own motive. Perhaps the same is for the killer of this case.”

I started shaking. “Please don’t remind me of that.”

She sighed. “Well there’s no use talking about it anyway. We need to look at the scene of the crime again. We might find more clues now that we have this information.”

We all walked back upstairs and went back to the crime scene one more time and found Ogami down on one knee, investigating the carpet. 

“Hmm…” She said quietly. 

“What is it, Ogami?” Celeste asked. 

“Ah, you’re all here. Kirigiri vanished as per usual, so I was hoping you three could help me solve this puzzle.” Ogami said. 

Owada was sweating. “Yeah, there’s something that’s been bothering me, too.” He looked at Ishimaru, who was standing underneath a bloody poster, nodding at him. “But you go first.”

Ogami nodded. “Yesterday when I was training with Hina, I spilled protein coffee on the carpet in this room. It seems to have vanished.”

Celeste peered down at the stain. “It doesn’t even look like it’s been cleaned. It’s as if it was never there in the first place.” She said. 

“How can you tell?” Junko asked. 

“The state of one’s clothing during a poker game, or any gambling game for that matter, provides a small piece of insight as to their playstyle.” Celeste said matter-of-factly. 

“Really?” 

“No, I just know what a properly cleaned carpet looks like.” Celeste giggled. 

Junko scowled. I couldn’t help but laugh. 

“What does it mean, then?” Ogami asked. “How can a coffee stain just disappear?”

We all thought briefly, but none of us could come up with anything. 

“Maybe you’re just mistaken?” Ishimaru suggested. 

Ogami shook her head. “No, I’m positive it was on this very carpet.”

“Odd.” Celeste said. 

“Okay, forget about the stain. I’m sure we’ll find out what happened later.” Owada said. “There’s something I wanna ask.”

“Then ask away.” Junko prompted. 

Owada’s voice caught in his throat. He turned towards the body and froze. “Sorry, I can’t. Taka can you…?”

Ishimaru nodded. “Sorry, he’s still taking the loss quite hard. Perfectly reasonable in his position if you ask me.”

“Do you know what Owada is talking about?”

“I think so.” Ishimaru rested his fist on his chin. “I believe it’s this poster.” He pointed to a bloody poster just behind Chihiro’s head. “Forgive me for being presumptuous, but isn’t it a little strange for a poster like this to be in a girl’s changing room?”

I looked at the poster. It was of a woman in a bikini in a sexy pose. “I suppose it is a little weird…”

“Two strange phenomenons in the scene of the crime?” Celeste said. “Very suspicious. I think we should check the boys’ changing room.”

“Huh? How come?” I asked. 

“It might confirm the very thing I am speculating.”

Ogami raised an eyebrow. “Actually, now that you mention it, I’m fairly sure that is where Kirigiri went.”

“Well, she is very clever and deductive. If she went to the boys’ changing room, I am now fully confident my suspicion is correct.” Celeste said. She quickly turned on her heel and walked out of the changing room. Junko and I rushed out to follow her. As Monokuma had opened up both changing rooms, we had no trouble entering the boys’ changing room. 

“Ah. So you figured it out, too.” Kirigiri said, crouched on the floor. 

“I don’t know what we have figured out, but we have figured out something.” Junko said. Kirigiri frowned in disappointment. 

“Hey, wait!” I pointed down to a spot on the carpet. “Is that a stain?”

“Yes.” Kirigiri said. “Specifically, protein coffee.”

“Wait, isn’t that what Ogami said she spilled on the carpet in the girls’ room?”

Kirigiri nodded. “Exactly. The poster is strange too.” 

I looked around for the poster in the boys’ changing room. When I found it, I saw what she was talking about. “Isn’t that that one boy band?” I asked. “I’m pretty sure my friends from junior high obsessed over them…”

“Ugh.” Junko pulled a face. “I hate that band. They looked like they were all made in a factory. Sound like it too.”

“Well, regardless of how you feel about the boy band, don’t you think it’s a bit strange that a poster of them is residing in the boys’ changing room?” Kirigiri asked. 

“It is very strange, indeed.” Celeste said. “This pretty much confirms my suspicion: The crime scene where Chihiro is now and the actual scene of the murder are not the same, and not only that, but their contents have been switched.”

“Switched?” Junko asked, her jaw agape. “But why?”

“To perhaps pin the crime on someone of a different gender?” I suggested. 

Kirigiri tapped her chin with her index finger. “Question is, if that is the case, how did Chihiro get into the boys’ changing room?”

None of us had an answer for that. And it seems we wouldn’t find one, as the monitor sang its deathly tune, and Monokuma’s smiling face appeared, telling us it was time for the trial. We slowly made our way down the stairs and into the red door near the gym. 

“Now then! It seems there is one person yet to arrive.” Monokuma said when we all gathered. 

“Who?” I asked, but he had already vanished. I looked around, trying to count the number of students present. I couldn’t figure out who was missing. When Monokuma arrived back, dragging Fukawa by her pigtails, I realised. 

“Ah. Well that makes sense.”

“Nnghhh!” Fukawa cried, clutching her hair. “I-I t-told you to l-leave me alone!”

“Nope! No can do! Participation is necessary in the class trial. If you don’t show up, you get punished! Puhuhu!”

Fukawa gritted her teeth. “Ngh! I guess I’ll just have to power through it…” She turned and faced the wall. “Oh… I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this!” She mumbled to herself. 

“The hell is up with her?” Junko asked. I shrugged. 

Kirigiri opened the doors to the elevator and we all walked in. 

And thus, we descended down the elevator for a second time, praying it would be the last. When the elevator slowed to a halt, we exited and came upon the new trial grounds. 

“Wha… what is this?” Hagakure cried. 

“The trial grounds look different!” Yamada exclaimed. 

“You like?” Monokuma said, sitting on his little throne. “I redecorated a little. Puhuhu! It’s good to have a hobby you know.”

“You’re so… so… ugh!” Asahina cried, shaking her head. “Just shut up already!”

“Fine! I suppose you’re eager to get this trial under way! Well, I won’t delay you any longer! Please stand behind the podium dedicated to you and we shall begin!”

Seeing Chihiro’s portrait with an x over it… it made my heart sink. She befell the same fate as Makoto, but this time the person who did it was unknown. I looked around at the crowd of people before me. 

One of us brutally murdered Chihiro Fujisaki, and now we had to find that killer. 

The trial for Chihiro’s murder had begun. 

  
  
  
  



	10. Trial 2: Promises and Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trial where everyone’s secret is getting revealed. Who killed Chihiro Fujisaki? What happened to the crime scene? Who is Genocider Syo? What the hell did Togami do now? 
> 
> As Maizono gets closer to finding the answer to each question, she finds the world closing in around her.

Kirigiri cleared her throat. “First thing we need to establish is how Fujisaki was killed. We already know the cause of death, we just need to discuss-“

“We don’t need to do any of that.” Togami interrupted, a sly grin creeping up his face. “I already know who the murderer is.”

Celeste looked pointedly at Togami. “Oh? Please, do tell.”

“The killer is none other than the infamous serial killer Genocider Syo.” Togami announced. 

“What!?” Hagakure cried, clutching his hair. “Genocider Syo is in the school!?”

“Precisely.”

“How do you know for sure?” Kirigiri questioned. “I recognise the calling card left by the killer, but that does not necessarily mean they did it.”

“Yeah, it could be the work of some copycat trying to pass it off as them, right?” Asahina said. 

“Not possible.” Togami rebutted sharply. “We have evidence that proves the killer is the real Genocider Syo. Don’t we, Maizono?” He looked at me. 

I almost panicked. “Uh- yeah. I think so…”

“Try to remember how the body was arranged.” Togami said. “Then you’ll see.”

I nodded, forcing myself to think about the murders in the Genocider Syo file. “Oh… yeah… each of the bodies of all of Genocider Syo’s victims were all arranged to look like a crucifixion.”

“A crucifixion!?” Yamada yelped. 

“Exactly. This information has never been released to the public. We found a file containing all of the information on Genocider Syo in an archive in the library.” Togami explained. 

“What kind of file like that is in a school library!?” Asahina cried. 

“But, more importantly…” Ogami said. “Togami, are you implying that because of that one detail, the idea of there being a copycat is impossible?” 

“You are correct, yes.” Togami replied. 

“Then… how did he sneak in?” Yamada asked. “This whole building is sealed off.”

“That’s the thing.” Togami smiled. “They didn’t.”

“What the hell does that mean!?” Owada yelled. 

“It means... if it’s what I think it is… that just like the rest of us… they were invited and accepted into the school.” Junko explained slowly. 

“What!? How!?” Hagakure cried. 

“Is it not obvious? They’re obviously a high a school student.” Togami said. 

“You’re not…” Yamada’s voice was shaky. “You’re seriously not implying Genocider Syo is… one of us!?”

“Indeed I am. And I know exactly who it is.”

“Well!? Tell us!” Ishimaru cried. 

“The one person who hasn’t spoken a single word since the beginning of this trial: Toko Fukawa.” He announced, pointing directly at Fukawa. 

“W… what?” Fukawa said shakily. “I-I-I-“

“Don’t bother trying to deny it.” Togami sneered. “You are Genocider Syo, and YOU killed Chihiro Fujisaki!” 

“NGGGH!!!” Fukawa cried, clutching her head in anguish. 

“This is a rather serious accusation, Togami.” Kirigiri said, stone-faced. “Do you have evidence?”

“Of course I do.” Togami chuckled. “I think a confession is more than enough.”

“So you’re saying she told you!? That’s hardly evidence, dude!” Hagakure yelled. 

“Fine. Then I’ll tell you what I know:” Togami sighed and folded his arms. “Maizono here only skimmed the file I gave her, so she would have missed one vital piece of information that was present in said file.” He cleared his throat. “The murders took place generally outside of schooling hours, or during weekends and public holidays. The detectives theorised from there that the suspect was a high school student. The lead suspect in the case was sometimes found a fair distance away from the murders, seemingly dazed and confused. The detectives then gathered that the suspect may suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder.” 

“Dissocia… what?” Hagakure said. 

Togami pointed at Fukawa again. “It means that the suspect has a split personality!”

“Split-“ I choked. “You can’t be serious.”

Togami sighed. “I’ve just about had enough of this. Why don’t we just hear it from the blackened herself?”

We all stared at Fukawa. I felt bad for her, pushed into a corner like that. Fukawa looked around nervously then turned away. “Y-you said… y-you said you wouldn’t t-tell anyone…”

Everyone gasped. 

“So it’s true!?” Junko cried. She looked as shocked as I felt. 

“Hehehe. See? I told you.” Togami sighed. 

“Togami, shut your mouth.” Kirigiri snapped. “Fukawa, explain yourself.”

Fukawa said nothing. Togami sighed. “Tell us everything.”

Fukawa swallowed. “I-I-I can’t believe you t-told everyone! A-after you promised you w-wouldn’t!”

“I made no such promise.” Togami scowled. “Besides, you broke your promise first.”

“W… what?” She said quietly. 

“You told me you wouldn’t let Genocider Syo get out. You wouldn’t let her kill anyone. And what happened? Fujisaki is dead with your calling card on the wall behind her.” 

Fukawa looked ready to explode. “Nnnghhh!”

“Well, we may as well hear it from her directly.” Togami sneered. “Let us talk to her.”

“N-no!”

“Do it. Now.” Togami growled. 

“Ngh!” Fukawa’s body shook. “N-no I won’t! I-I-I won’t!” She nervously glanced at Togami’s angry face and screamed. “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

She collapsed on the floor. 

Everyone, except Togami, was stunned. 

“F… Fukawa?” I said nervously. 

Suddenly, Fukawa quickly leapt up from the floor and back onto her feet. “Nope! Miss Morose here is having a little nap! But you get to talk to  _ me  _ instead! Kyehahahahaha!!!”

“Woah! What’s with your tongue!?” Hagakure pointed at Fukawa, whose tongue was now hanging out of her mouth at an unnatural length. 

“Kyehahahahahah!!!” She laughed again. 

“W… what happened to you!?” I cried. 

“Me? Oh, nothing!” Fukawa cried. “I just swapped places. What happened was a classic textbook split personality!” She started laughing, and then stopped. “Actually that term makes me very uncomfortable so please do not use it.”

“Are you…” Yamada asked slowly. “Genocider Syo?”

“Oh? You don’t know?” She shook her head. “Of course I am! I’m the one and only Genocider Syo!” She cried. “And for the record I don’t go by any other aliases. This is Japan you know!”

“The fuck are you talking about?” Owada said. 

Syo just laughed. 

“Well, Syo? Do you confess?” Togami asked. 

Syo looked confused. “To what? You have to be specific.”

“Did you or did you not murder Chihiro Fujisaki?”

“Who?” She jumped. “Oh! Her!” She laughed. “To tell you the truth, of course I didn’t! Kyehahahahaha!!!”

Togami’s eyes widened. “What do you mean, you didn’t? It had to have been you!”

“Ooo, Master’s all serious!” 

“Master?” Yamada asked, an odd expression on his face.

“Don’t ask.” Junko said quietly. 

“For Master to accuse me of such a  _ heinous  _ crime!” She gasped. “It must be my lucky day!” She looked around. “Speaking of which, what happened to the lucky boy?”

“Lucky boy?” Asahina repeated.”

“I think she means Makoto…” I said quietly. 

“You remember his talent but not his name?” Junko asked. 

“Well I don’t share memories with Miss Morose! Besides, I’m awful with names anyhow.” 

“Then how do you even know him?” Kirigiri narrowed her eyes. “As far as I recall none of us have met you before now.”

Syo thought for a moment. “That’s just semantics! Just ignore that. Where is he anyhow?”

“He’s dead.” Togami said. “Can we please move on?” 

Syo gasped. “Not poor Makoko! He was the second prettiest boy here!”

“Makoko?” I said. 

“Second prettiest?” Junko said. 

“Can we please discuss the actual case now?” Kirigiri said. 

“Yes. Let’s.” Togami said through gritted teeth. “So. Syo. Please tell us how it couldn’t have been you.”

“Well I only glanced at the crime scene very briefly, but I could see why you would think it was me.” Syo replied. “But the whole set-up was so sloppy! I murder with passion! Well, at least I used to anyway.”

“Used to!?” Hagakure cried. 

“Yes! I’m done being a stereotype!” Syo laughed. “Those awful horror movies that want to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so bad! I’m moving past that now.”

“I’m… glad…” I said slowly. 

“But… you are a serial killer with a split personality…” Hagakure said. “That’s not a stereotype if it’s true…”

Syo stared at him. “I just told you I don’t like that term! The correct term is alter!”

“Just get to the point.” Togami growled. 

“Fine fine!” Syo groaned. “Like I said, the set-up was so sloppy! Sure, whoever did it made it LOOK like one of my esteemed killings, but they had not one but TWO major details missing. And believe me, I never miss.”

I thought back to the Syo file. The images of the murder victims was still burned in my mind. “Two major differences…” I said aloud. 

“What on Earth is she talking about?” Asahina said. 

“That’s it!” I cried. “I know! The cause of death is different!”

“Exactly!” Syo pointed at me. “Do you honestly think I’d use something as barbaric as a dumbell? I mean I don’t think I could even LIFT that thing! It’s frankly insulting.”

“I suppose that makes sense…” Yamada said. 

“That’s not enough.” Togami sneered. “You could have switched it up just for this murder to throw us off.”

“Okay then, Master. Let me ask you this: If I wanted to murder someone in this environment to, let’s say, escape, do you think I would have set it up like one of my own killings where I absolutely would have been found out?”

Togami’s expression broke. 

“No comment, Togami?” Kirigiri said. “I’m convinced.”

“I’m not!” Hagakure cried. “It has to be her, right? Cause she’s the Ultimate Murderous Fiend or whatever…”

“What were you saying about the cause of death, Maizono?” Ishimaru asked. “You said it was different in the file.”

I nodded. “In all of Syo’s cases, the victims were stabbed to death with scissors.”

“Scissors!?” Yamada cried. “Where do you even get scissors that sharp!?”

“I have them custom-made!” Syo said. “I have them with me right here!” She lifted up her skirt slightly and took out two pairs of long silver scissors. She laughed maniacally.

“A rather unconventional weapon, it makes sense.” Celeste said, not even reacting to what just transpired. 

“The bodies were then… suspended to the wall with said scissors.” I continued, drawing my eyes away from Syo and her scissors. 

“What? But Chihiro was suspended using some kind of rope, right?” Junko said. 

I nodded. “Yes. This was just an elaborate set-up.”

“That should have been obvious from the start.” Kirigiri said. “More importantly, Junko mentioned some kind of rope was used to suspend Chihiro, but that’s wrong. It was an extension cord.”

“An extension cord?” I cried. 

“You understand now, right?” Kirigiri smiled. 

I felt my heartbeat increase. Of course I knew. It made so much sense. I cleared my throat. “The extension cord that Togami was using for his desk lamp, you mean?”

Gasps filled the room. 

“And just what does that mean?” Togami asked, his expression terrifying. 

“Well Togami, the person who kept suggesting that the culprit was Genocider Syo was you.” Celeste said. “It only makes sense.”

“And… not only that, the detail about the crucifixion pose was one only Togami knew about prior to the murder.” I said. 

“So it was Togami!” Ishimaru cried. 

“You fuckin’ bastard.” Owada fumed. 

“I see. So the suspicion falls on me.” Togami smiled evilly. “Not to echo what Syo said earlier, but why would I set-up a crime in such a way that would knowingly implicate me?” 

“You wanted us to think it was Syo to throw us off!” Ishimaru yelled. “It has to be you!”

“You’re all idiots.”

“Well, Togami, if you’re not the killer, why did you set up the crime in that way?” Junko asked. 

“So you assume I still did that?” Togami replied. “Well then, how did I get into the girls’ changing room where the murder took place?”

“That detail doesn’t matter.” Kirigiri said. 

“What? Why not?” Togami scowled. 

“Because the murder didn’t take place in the girls’ changing room.” Kirigiri said. “And we have plenty of evidence which says why. Right, Ogami?”

“Are you referring to the protein coffee I spilled on the carpet?” Ogami asked. “I assumed Monokuma had simply cleaned it.”

“But it looked like it had simply vanished. Like it was never there in the first place.” Celeste said. 

“That’s because it wasn’t.” Kirigiri said. “There’s more evidence too. You noticed it as well, didn’t you Ishimaru?”

“That’s right! The poster in the girls’ locker room was very strange…” Ishimaru said. 

Junko frowned. 

“A poster of a scantily-clad supermodel posing in a girls’ changing room may not seem too strange, but you compare that to the poster of the boy band in the boys’ locker room, and that detail becomes far clearer.”

Kirigiri said. 

“Are you suggesting that the crime scenes were switched?” Celeste narrowed her eyes. 

“Exactly. The crime did not take place in the girls’ locker room like the killer wanted us to believe. The crime actually took place in the  _ boys’  _ changing room.” 

“Wait, so how did Chihiro get into the boys’ changing room then?” Junko asked. 

Kirigiri looked downcast. “There’s a rather simple yet sinister explanation for that. Fujisaki is not who she seemed.” Kirigiri frowned. “Or rather I should say, who  _ he  _ seemed.”

I felt my heart stop. “What?” 

Monokuma laughed. “WAHAHAHA! So you figured it out, huh? Puhuhu… That’s right! Even though he dressed and acted like a girl, Chihiro Fujisaki was actually a boy!”

Ishimaru looked shaken. “Wha…? That can’t be right!” 

Ogami looked angry. “That explains her- I mean his odd behaviour.” 

“Chihiro!” Owada said. The grief on his face was indescribable. “If only I knew…”

“I can’t…” Junko said, shocked. 

I couldn’t believe it. The little girl I hung out with for so long… Whom I gave advice on becoming stronger… She was… “No! This is all wrong!”

“What is?” Togami said. “Fujisaki clearly lied about his gender to us.”

“Lied?” Junko said. “You make it sound so hateful. She-, ah, was clearly scared.”

“How can you be so sure?” Togami replied. 

Junko said nothing. I looked down at the floor. I remembered the conversation I had with her the other day.

_ “I know w-what I have to do! I will get stronger! I will change, in the way th-that I want to!” _

_... _

_ “Thank you, Maizono! You’ve opened my eyes! I… I-I want to change! N-No more being scared! Eventually, I w-will have the confidence. I will become who I really am!” _

“No comment?” Togami grinned. “Kehehe… it’s just like I said. He lied about his gender to fool us into thinking he was weak and innocent.”

“That’s sexist!” Asahina cried. 

“I still can’t believe he was a boy…” Yamada said sadly. 

“Oh but he was!” Monokuma laughed. “Coincidentally, that was the secret I would have revealed had he not horrifically perished! Wahahaha!!! So terrified of his lack of masculinity, he dressed up as a girl and embraced his new form!”

“EVERYONE, STOP!” I screamed. I felt tears stream down my face. “Does Chihiro not get a say in all this!?” I slammed my fist on the podium. “We only believe that she was ‘actually a boy’ because that’s what Monokuma is telling us!”

Kirigiri frowned. “But I checked the body thoroughly-“

“EW!” Junko cried. “First of all, that’s disgusting, second of all, I get that you’re some expert on dead people and all, but that’s so disrespectful!”

Kirigiri looked angry. “Disrespectful? This is a murder investigation. Our lives are at stake.”

“That still doesn’t give you the right to assume anything about the victim like that!” I yelled. “I talked to her. I KNOW what she wanted. All she wanted was to become stronger. She said it herself, she wanted to live the way  _ she wanted to! _ ” I sniffed. “Just because she’s dead doesn’t mean you get to take that away from her!”

Kirigiri looked stunned. I’d never seen her look so emotive. Nobody said anything for several seconds. 

“Sh… she’s right!” Owada cried. “Maizono’s right! I talked to Chihiro too, she said the same thing! Which is why-“ He cut himself off and started to sweat. 

“O… Owada?” I asked nervously. 

“Which is why she asked to train with me.”

“Oh?” Togami said curiously. “And did you accept that request?” 

Owada said nothing. 

“It seems as if you’ve dug your own grave.” Kirigiri said. 

“I can confirm this.” Celeste said. “I saw Fujisaki stuff a blue track jacket into a duffel bag late last night. She said she was ‘in a hurry.’ I warned her about the consequences, but she persisted.”

“Foolish idiot! Why would you admit something so damning!?” Togami yelled. He huffed. “Now this trial is no longer interesting.”

“INTERESTING!?” Junko growled. “You’ve got some fucking nerve.”

Togami ignored her. “Well Owada? Speak already.”

Owada said nothing. He just grimaced and closed his eyes. 

Ishimaru, on the other hand, was very vocal. “WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?” He screamed. “This is simply unacceptable!” He straightened himself up. “You need evidence! I refuse to accept that Mondo is the killer! Show me your evidence!”

Owada winced. 

“Wait! I know! If the murder did indeed take place in the boys’ locker room, how did Mondo move the body to the girls’ locker room?” Ishimaru looked triumphant. “Hahaha! There’s no way he could have done it!” 

“That is a very good point.” Kirigiri frowned. “That I do not know.” 

Asahina looked nervous. “I… I think I know how.”

“Yeah? Well show me!” Ishimaru growled. Ishimaru was distraught, I could tell that much. 

“Sakura, you know too, don’t you?”

Ogami’s face fell. “Of course. That makes sense.”

Asahina took a deep breath. “I lost my eHandbook last night.”

“Why are you only mentioning this now!?” Togami said angrily. “That is vital information.”

“Well… because I didn’t think it was related to the case…” Asahina said nervously. “I just assumed that because the body was in the girls’ locker room, that she was either killed there, or her eHandbook was used to open the door…”

“That is a valid assumption.” Kirigiri said. “You wouldn’t have known about Fujisaki’s gender.” She looked at Monokuma. “Which locker room was Fujisaki able to access?”

Monokuma laughed. “That’s a pretty roundabout way of asking what you really mean, which is what gender did I put him on the eHandbook? Well, male of course!”

I scowled at him. “How dare you. Making her life even more of a living hell.”

“Puhuhu… call that a little extra taste of despair!” 

“So you admit referring to her as male was wrong?” Junko asked. 

Monokuma said nothing. Junko harrumphed. 

“So, sometime between the nighttime announcement last night and this morning, Hina’s handbook went missing.” Ogami explained. “We can only presume the killer took it so he could get into the girls’ locker room.”

“Is that not a violation of the rules!?” Ishimaru cried, desperately trying to grasp at any straws he could find. 

“No.” Togami said. “Monokuma said it was forbidden to lend your own handbook to someone else voluntarily. Stealing someone else’s handbook is fine.”

“Puhuhu… exactly!” Monokuma laughed. “You figured that loophole, huh?”

“I’m impressed that our friend Owada did.”

Owada still wasn’t looking at us. His face was drowned in shame. 

“S-stop accusing him! You still need evidence! WHERE IS YOUR EVIDENCE!?” Ishimaru screamed. Tears were beginning to run down his face. “WITHOUT EVIDENCE YOU CAN’T PIN ANY OF THIS ON HIM!”

“Owada clearly knew about Fujisaki’s secret before we did.” Kirigiri said. “When everyone found the body, does anyone remember exactly what Owada said?”

I thought for a moment, but couldn’t think of anything. Everyone else shook their heads.

“He distinctly referred to Fujisaki as ‘bro’, something until then he had reserved for Ishimaru.” Kirigiri said. “Owada calls people different nicknames based on their gender. Calling a girl ‘bro’ doesn’t make sense.”

Owada clenched his fist. “Goddamnit.” He whispered. 

“What?” Ishimaru went pale. 

Owada finally looked up. “It’s over, man.”

“Mondo?” Ishimaru said quietly. “What do you mean, ‘over’?” His lip quivered. “Mondo, please explain! Tell them they’re wrong!”

“Enough. I’m done. In the end, I couldn’t even keep my final promise.” Owada said. 

“But why?” Junko asked. “Chihiro was your friend!”

“I KNOW!” Owada yelled. “How do you think I feel!? I betrayed my best friend, the one who TRUSTED me!” He started to cry. “That’s something… I can never take back.”

“Well isn’t this something!” Monokuma laughed. “It seems you guys are ready to vote.”

“N-no… no! NO!!!” Ishimaru yelled. “None of this is right! You’re all FOOLS!”

“I’m sorry, Ishimaru.” Ogami said. “We’ve made our decision.”

I swallowed and reluctantly made my vote. 

A few seconds later, Monokuma jumped up, laughing. “WAHAHAHAHA! Well done! The blackened for this case is Mondo Owada!”

“WHY!?” Ishimaru yelled. “If it’s really you, please tell me WHY!”

“Very honourable of you to vote for yourself, young Ishimaru.” Monokuma saud. “But you would have gotten everyone killed! Anyway: Since Owada is deciding now of all times to stay quiet, I will speak for him!” Monokuma cleared his ‘throat’ and spoke. “Fujisaki was killed to preserve Owada’s secret. But, since we’re here, we may as well reveal that little secret!” He laughed. “The secret that Mondo Owada was willing to kill for! THE SECRET THAT HE KILLED HIS OWN BROTHER!”

Gasps filled the trial room. 

“W-what?” Asahina said. 

Owada’s breath got caught in this throat.

“Mondo- no! H-he loved his brother! He wouldn’t!” Ishimaru cried. 

“Oh but he did!” Monokuma said. “Allow me to tell the story! As you all know, Owada is the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader. But he didn’t always have that title. His older brother, Daiya Owada, was the former leader of the biker gangs. Mondo Owada was due to inherit the title from his brother very soon, but oh how he stressed about it! He looked up to his brother, as did the gangs. Poor thing, always worrying about not looking strong enough to the others. So: He decided to challenge his brother to a street race!”

Owada’s body tensed. 

“In the middle of the night on the busiest streets, off they went! But young Owada was bold and desperate to beat his brother! He sped forward to overtake him and drove straight into the path of an oncoming truck!”

Everyone gasped. 

“But Owada senior swooped in to save him, at the cost of his life. And our young Owada murdered again to keep that a secret!”

Everyone was silent. 

“Daiya…” Owada said quietly. 

After a few seconds, I spoke up. “That wasn’t murder!” I cried. “That was just a terrible accident! Owada shouldn’t have to carry a burden like that! You are once again deliberately misconstruing what happened!” I pointed at Monokuma. 

“Huh? Me?” Monokuma said. “But it was Owada’s own insecurities that got him killed!”

“That wasn’t his fault!” I yelled. “His brother chose to save him!”

“Maizono… he’s right.” Owada said. “Daiya died because I was weak. As did Chihiro.” He looked back up. “I killed Chihiro cause I was weak! And I couldn’t even keep my last promise!

I looked at Owada sadly. “That’s why you admitted it, isn’t it? Once Chihiro’s secret had been found out, there was no need to hide your crime anymore.”

Owada looked down. “She was my friend. It was the least I could do, after doing what I did.” He looked up again. “Last night, Chihiro asked me to train with him in the boys’ changing room. I agreed. At that stage I had no intention of harming her whatsoever. She told me what her secret was. That she was really born a boy, and she needed the strength to help live as her true self.” He clenched his fist. “Chihiro coming to me with something like that, she was truly strong. Stronger than I was. It made me feel weak and powerless. How could I face my brother’s death like that after what she told me!? How could she look so happy, telling me her deepest darkest secret so easily!? It made me angry. Angry like I’ve never felt before. The dumbell was already in my hand. I don’t know what happened after that. The next thing I knew, Chihiro’s body was on the floor, blood splattered everywhere. I must have blacked out. 

Ishimaru was crying. “Mondo… y-you should have told me!”

“How!? How Taka!? How could I tell you!? How could I tell the man I love that I just murdered our friend!?” Owada sobbed. 

“Please Owada. Continue.” I said. 

He inhaled and exhaled. “Okay. After that, I knew I had to do something. The only thing on my mind was Chihiro. I couldn’t let her secret get found out. I made a promise to her. And I don’t break my promises. The first thing I did was grab Chihiro’s handbook. My own handbook was already broken, so I knew how to break hers. I knew her gender would be listed on there, so I thought getting rid of it would be the first step, and that everyone would assume the killer somehow got her into the boys’ room. Desperate plan I know.”

“How do the eHandbooks break?” Celeste asked. 

“What kinda question is that!?” Monokuma growled. 

“It’s for the trial.” Celeste said. 

“But the trial’s already over!” He cried. “Ugh, fine! If the eHandbook is exposed to very high temperatures, it will overheat and stop working.”

“The sauna!” I cried. 

Owada nodded. “When I went to the sauna to dispose of Chihiro’s handbook, I found Asahina’s handbook just sitting there in the changing room.” He frowned. “Heh, I couldn’t believe my fuckin’ luck. After I broke Chihiro’s handbook, I grabbed Asahina’s handbook and used it to switch the crime scene: Carpet, posters, everything. If Chihiro was found in the girls’ locker room, then her secret would be kept safe.” 

“Owada…” I whispered. “Thank you.”

Owada scowled. “I still killed her. I don’t wanna be forgiven for somethin’ like that.” 

Kirigiri held up a hand. “Before we go any farther, I need to ask something: I assume you didn’t hang Fujisaki’s corpse up like that?”

Owada looked angry. “Of course I fucking didn’t! I bet it was this asshole!” He pointed at Togami. 

Togami laughed. “Well, since the trial is over, I’ll say it. Yes, of course I set it up to look like Syo did it.”

Genocider Syo laughed. “Well you did a pretty shitty job!”

“Why!?” Owada looked ready to strangle him. “Have you no fuckin’ respect!?”

“Not for the enemies of the killing game I don’t.” He replied. “Especially for ones so obvious that I see them walking out of the crime scene at 2am.”

Owada froze. “Hrk- you saw me?”

“Plain as day.”

“So you were out past nighttime, too?” Celeste shook her head. “No-one listens…” She tutted. 

“I may have broken a rule and messed with the investigation, but at least I didn’t murder anyone, unlike Owada over here.” Togami frowned. 

Ishimaru fell to his knees. “I can’t… I still can’t believe this!” He sobbed.

“Well whether you believe it or not, it doesn’t matter!” Monokuma cried. “Frankly, I’ve had enough of this talk. Now, I’ve prepared a very special punishment for the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, Mondo Owada!” 

“P-punishment?” Ishimaru said sadly, still on the floor. 

“I hope you are all ready!”

Ishimaru stood up and grabbed onto Owada. “No! Please!”

“I’m sorry, man.” Owada hugged Ishimaru. “I couldn’t keep my promise. From a man to a woman.”

“IIIIIITTTTTT’S PUNISHMENT TIIIIIIIIIME!” Monokuma cried. 

Ishimaru’s anguished screams echoed throughout the trial grounds. “NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

*

The execution began. Owada was strapped to a motorcycle, ridden by Monokuma. Monokuma rode the bike forward into a giant metal ball-cage, letting the motorcycle spin and spin, faster and faster. We could only watch as Owada’s body was thrown about the cage atop the accelerating motorcycle. A blinding flash of white light appeared, and Mondo Owada’s body disappeared. 

“AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” Ishimaru screamed. “AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

We could only watch in despair as Ishimaru, our leader, broke down in front of us, his once strong resolve shattered into nothingness.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” He screamed again. 

“I’m so sorry.” I said, trying my hardest to comfort him. It wasn’t until I spoke did I realise I was crying. 

“I-it’s okay… we’ll get through it.” Junko said. 

I looked around. Everyone’s faces looked sullen and despairful. Syo had since gone, and Fukawa was fronting again. She looked shaken up, and it didn’t take a genius to work out why. Apart from Monokuma, who was giggling ecstatically, the only person who was smiling as we left the trial grounds was Togami. 

“Hehehe…” He laughed. “Well, I suppose it turned out to be an interesting trial after all.”

Everything that happened next happened in the blink of an eye. Junko vanished from next to me. Terrifyingly quick, she was in front of Togami. 

With a knife held to his throat. 

Togami should have been terrified, but instead he just laughed. “My my, Miss Enoshima.” He grinned. “Mind telling me what your Ultimate Talent was again?”

Junko made no movement. Made no sound. 

“Are you seriously going to kill me? Here? In front of all of these people?” He laughed. “Well, I daresay that would make for an interesting development.” 

Junko’s voice was soft and intimidating. It was very different from her normal sarcastic self. It was unlike anything I had ever heard from her. “After what you did to Chihiro, if you speak another word like that in front of me again, it will be your last. I do not mind being executed for your pathetic death.”

Togami grinned. “I’d very much like to see you try. I’d also like to know who you really are.” He looked at the knife held up against his throat. “Who is Mukuro anyway? And where does a mere fashionista get such a deadly and expensive weapon like that anyhow?”

“Mukuro?” I said aloud. 

Junko turned to look at me briefly. She lowered the knife and stepped aside. 

“Thank you.” Togami said, brushing himself off. He stepped off the elevator and stopped without turning around. “Mark my words, Junko Enoshima. Threaten me like that again and I will make sure you and your family regret it for the next 100 years.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank God! That’s the worst trial in the entire series done! I hope I managed to write it effectively with all its changes! It’s really hard to write caricatures like Syo and Chihiro properly considering how they’re written in-game but I hope you really enjoyed this chapter and I hope to see y’all tearing into Togami in the comments


	11. Alter Ego

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahina accidentally finds a memento from Fujisaki that ends up becoming a vital piece in the fight against the killing game. 
> 
> Maizono breaks down, and Enoshima isn't equipped to deal with it. 
> 
> And poor, poor Ishimaru...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Before we get into the chapter I JUST wanna say really quickly I will be deleting my AO3 exactly 7 days after I upload this chapter and transferring all of my works onto FANFICTION.NET under the same username. Frankly, I've become increasingly more sick of AO3's awful awful terms of service and their allowance of AN UNDERAGE PORN FIC OF A REAL LIVING PERSON is the straw, or rather I suppose the anvil, that broke the camel's back and I no  
> longer want to support a website that allows such disgusting content. 
> 
> I appreciate all of your support through all of this, and I hope you guys will continue to support me afterwards. Peace out, y'all!
> 
> My ff.net url is: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/14659253/

In the dead of night, a young girl struggled to fall asleep. Tossing and turning, her stomach nauseous with despair. She sat up in her bed and sighed. 

“Horrible… just- horrible…” She sniffed. She looked around her room. “Hrrrgghhh…” She moaned. “Donuts. I need… donuts.” She got out of bed and put her clothes on. 

She walked out of her bedroom, closing the door marked “Asahina” behind her. “I’m sorry Celeste… I know I’m breaking the rules… I just-“

And that’s when she heard it. 

“Krrrr… krrr…!” 

“What was that?” She cried. “I-It sounded like it came from the sauna…” She walked over to the sauna and walked in. “What is that light?” She approached the locker where the light was coming from and let out a bloodcurdling scream. 

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

*

The morning after the trial, my entire body felt heavy. Instead of the guilt and sadness I felt after the first trial, I just felt… emptiness. Like my body had lost all mass. First Makoto and Kuwata, and now Chihiro and Owada. When will it end? I sighed. I could sense Junko about to kick down my door again, so I slowly got up and trudged along to the dining hall. When I got there, my eyes took in the people around me. Just like after Kuwata’s execution, everyone sat around with their heads and voices low. Fukawa and Togami were missing, which wasn’t too surprising, but what surprised me was Asahina’s disappearance. 

“Where is Asahina?” I asked quietly, as if to not disturb the peace. 

“She said she wasn’t feeling well. Stomachache, I believe.” Ogami explained. 

“Oh.” 

“Makes sense… after yesterday…” Junko exhaled sadly. “I just hope she’s okay.”

Ogami nodded. 

Hagakure looked around. “Hmm… it’s well-past 7am… where is- Ah! There you are, man!” He chuckled and walked over to a person sitting at a table on his own, looking very different than before. “Yo, Ishimaru! Aren’t you gonna… address us?” 

Ishimaru stared blankly at the table. His hand was twitching, but other than that his body was eerily still. 

“I… Ishimaru?” I prompted. 

Silence. 

I walked over and sat down next to him. I placed my hand on his shoulder. “T… Taka?”

Ishimaru still didn’t move. He clearly hadn’t slept a wink. I never thought the Ultimate Moral Compass would become reduced to a shell…

“I guess our leader is out of action for now…” Hagakure said. “Welp, as the oldest person here, I volunteer to be the next leader!”

Junko scowled. “You seem a little too excited for this.”

“H-hey, come on now! I just wanna help us all out!” Hagakure said. “Anyway, I say we all look around to try and find a way outta this place!” He announced. “If my prediction is correct, I’d say there’s a new floor of the school that’s opened up to be explored.”

“Hmm… you’re probably right…” Yamada said. “I mean, that’s what happened last time, right?”

“Of course I’m right! My predictions are always at least 30% accurate!”

“30%!? That’s nothing!” Junko cried. 

“H-hey! You try fortune telling then!” Hagakure fired back. 

“Ugh, I literally don’t have the energy to argue with you.” Junko said. “Come on, Sayaka, let’s explore this new floor.”

“I… I don’t really wanna go…” I said slowly. “It seems like every new floor just provides us with more tools to kill each other…” 

Junko smiled kindly at me. “It’ll be okay. Now’s not the time to worry. After all, it’s not as if Monokuma has given us a motive yet…”

I failed to feel reassured, but Junko seemed to be trying, so at the very least I decided to go with her. “Okay. Let’s go.”

“Come on, big man, we gotta go.” Hagakure said, slowly dragging Ishimaru to his feet. Ishimaru hobbled along for a bit, before pushing Hagakure off and walking quickly out of the dining hall. “Jeez. I feel really bad for the guy…”

That feeling was mutual. I think most of us felt bad for him. 

Except for Celeste apparently, who gave a bored sigh as she sat up. Yamada squirmed a little where he was standing, carrying a tray. He handed Celeste a cup, which she took and sipped out of. Her face reflexively scrunched up, and she turned and threw the cup against the wall. 

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Junko jumped and spun around to face Celeste. “The hell is your deal!?”

Celeste ignored her. 

Yamada started sweating. “Was the tea… not to your liking?”

Celeste exhaled. “When I said milk tea, I expected proper milk tea. Do you expect me to drink this swill?”

“I-I’m sorry… I made it the best I could…”

“YOUR PATHETIC EXCUSES WON’T WORK ON ME! GET BACK IN THERE AND MAKE IT PROPERLY YOU FOUL SWINE!” Celeste jumped up and yelled, an uncharacteristically angry expression on her face. Her tone had completely changed. Instead of quiet and calm, she was loud and frightening. 

“WAH!!! I’LL BE YOUR GOOD LITTLE PIGGY!!!” Yamada yelled, before speeding off into the kitchen with unfathomable speed. 

“Ce.. Celeste?” I said quietly. 

She sat down, her expression back to its neutral self. “Please, don’t let me stop your investigation. I shall join you promptly. Once…” She scowled and stared towarss the kitchen. “... I get a proper cup of tea.”

“Oookaaayyyy…” Junko said slowly. “Sayaka, let’s leave.” She whispered. 

“Yeah. Good idea.” I whispered back. 

With that, we swiftly left the dining hall and made our way towards the third floor of the main school building. The layout was weird, there was a large string of pillars placed ostentatiously in the middle of a quad-like area. On one side there was a massive archway which lead to the art room, and on the other there was a long and winding hallway. 

“Where the hell are the stairs to the next floor?” Junko asked. “I wanna see if those are blocked off.” She swallowed. “Or if there even are stairs.”

It was an odd thing to be concerned about, but it made sense. More blocked off stairs probably meant more class trials. The thought made me shudder. We made our way down the hallway and found the stairs, which were blocked by the gate. 

“Hmph.” Junko huffed. “Figures. Fourth floor huh…”

I turned around and my eyes fell on a strange revolving door. “Physics lab?” I read aloud. 

“Huh. Sounds interesting.” Junko said, looking to where I was looking. “Shall we start here then? The most intriguing room?” 

“I don’t know if I’d put them on a scale…” I said softly. I walked in and was immediately shocked. A giant machine spanned from floor to ceiling and made a loud whirring noise that practically deafened me. Standing off to the side by himself was Ishimaru, staring blankly at nothing. 

“Yo, Ishimaru. You okay buddy?” Junko said. 

No response. He was clearly still in immense grief, and I couldn’t blame him. He must have been so confused as well, forever pondering why his… friend... did what he did. 

“Taka?” I said. Still no response. Leaving him to his laurels, I stared up at the giant machine. “What on earth is this thing?” I asked aloud. 

“No idea.”

“Why hello bear!” Monokuma cried suddenly, appearing out of nowhere. 

“AH!” I shrieked. 

“Stop doing that!” Junko yelled. 

“Puhuhu… you young ladies are easily terrified. It’s not as if I’m a dangerous grizzly or anything!” He laughed. “Anyway, you wondering about this here machine, right? Well chickadees, allow me to explain! This is a time machine! It can go back it forward in time!”

“Really?” I asked. 

“It… it can?” A soft voice called quietly from behind me. Ishinaru’s vacant expression was slowly fading, turning into one of determination. “Then that means I-“ He clenched his fist. “That means I can go back! I can go back and stop Mondo from doing what he did!” He cried, his voice louder than I’ve heard in a while. 

“Woah woah woah! Hold your horses there, buddy!” Monokuma yelled. “We don’t have that level of advanced technology yet! This machine can only go back  _ one minute  _ in time! Your courageous endeavour is fruitless!” 

Ishimaru’s expression broke. He stepped backwards and doubled over. 

“Ahahahaha!” Monokuma laughed. “Sorry, that was a little white lie. This isn’t a time machine at all! It’s an air purifier. Without any windows to provide ventilation, you guys would eventually suffocate on your own carbon dioxide! To prevent that, this air purifier was made to ensure that you are constantly breathing fresh air!” He laughed again. “Puhuhu… China would be jealous!”

I ignored his extremely off-colour joke at the end and scowled. 

“You monster.” Junko growled. “To play a trick on Ishimaru like that while he’s grieving, I swear to God you will BURN IN HELL!”

“Puhuhuhu! Such passion!” Monokuma laughed. “However, I’m just a bear! I have no sense of religion or damnation! Much like Taka over here, your efforts are fruitless!”

Junko’s face burned red with anger, and she looked ready to strike again. I placed a hand on her shoulder and felt her body relax. “Yeah. Thanks Sayaka.” She smiled at me. 

I returned the smile and then turned to Ishimaru. His face was filled with an unlawful mixture of grief and guilt. Exactly how I felt after Makoto and Kuwata died. Seeing it from the outside, it somehow hurt even more. 

“Ahahaha! That’s it! That’s the face I wanna see! An expression brimming with bittersweet despair!” He winked. “Or should I say,  _ buttersweet _ despair!”

Junko frowned, exasperated. “Just get out of here!”

With the usual mysteriousness, Monokuma disappeared. 

“Ishimaru…” I said quietly, but he clearly didn’t hear me.

“We should just leave him…” Junko whispered. I nodded. We walked towards the back of the lab, where we found another door. 

“This must be the equipment room…” I said as I stepped in. It was fairly spacious, but had lots of stuff stored inside it, such as measurement tools and reference books. In the corner, a large tray with wheels on it sat idly next to a pile of tarps. Togami was eyeing it curiously. 

“Interesting room, wouldn’t you say?” Togami asked without turning around. 

“Ah!” Fukawa jumped up from where she was standing, which seemed to be several feet away from Togami. “Yes! Of course!”

“I wasn’t talking to you, miserable wench. I was talking to the two who just walked in.”

“Ah! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!!!” Fukawa cried. 

“Jesus Christ, Togami…” Junko grumbled.

“I guess it is…” I answered his question, trying to reclaim the tense atmosphere. 

“That air purifier is a mystery too.” Togami continued. “It makes sense, but it’s grotesquely hi-tech.” 

“You certainly have a knack for describing things…” I said, more to myself than him. He ignored me. “Let’s just take our leave…” I said to Junko.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” She said and sauntered out of the equipment room. As we walked through the physics lab, Junko stopped me and pointed towards a table. “Hey, was that there when we came in?”

“No idea.” I said, eyeing the strange camera she was pointing at. 

Junko walked over to it and picked it up. It was small, pink, and fairly cheap-looking. It must have been a disposable camera. It was pink and had the design of an anime-style fairy on it. “Weird design. We should go around and see who it belongs to.”

I nodded. “Good idea.”

We walked past Ishimaru, as we figured it wouldn’t be his. We made our back down the hallway and into the art room, where we found Yamada, eyeing the many statues in admiration. 

“Hey, Yamada.” Junko said. 

He turned to us and smiled. “Ah! Good morning, Miss Maizono and Miss Enoshima!” He rubbed his chin. “I see you too have an admiration for fine art.”

Junko looked around at the statues. “The Monokuma one is a bit gaudy, but the rest are nice.”

“Indeed.” He nodded. “I don’t particularly like that one either. However, the statue of Venus here… ho ho ho, quite to my liking.”

“I’m surprised, Yamada. I thought you were a writer…?” I said. 

“Well, yes, but that is only HALF of my power. My full power as The Alpha and the Omega, comes from the artwork I provide. I cannot fully call myself a true 2D enthusiast if I do not draw!” He declared. 

His enthusiasm took me by surprise. He was clearly very knowledgeable, and he brimmed with passion. 

“2D enthusiast? You mean like, anime and manga and all that shit?” Junko asked. 

“Well, I would not have put it quite like that, but yes.” He replied. 

“So… does this belong to you then?” Junko took out the camera and handed it to him. 

His eyes lit up. “DEMON ANGEL PUDGY PRINCESS! ⭐️” He cried. “I thought I lost this camera when I first came to Hope’s Peak…” He looked at it closely. “This was such a rare item! But now…” He sighed. “It’s all smudged and faded… it’s practically worthless now…”

“D-Do you still want it?” I asked. 

“Well, no use throwing it away, I guess I’ll keep it. Where did you find it?”

“In the physics lab.” I replied. 

His eyes widened in surprise. “Why on earth was it in there!? I haven’t even been in there yet!”

“That… that is weird…” I said slowly. 

He shook his head. “Well, enough of that. I must continue my search. Gotta do my part after all.” He walked past us then stopped. “Oh, give that repository room in the back a good look. See if you can find anything I may have missed. Good day.” He walked out of the art room. 

“He’s weirdly polite for a creep…” Junko said. 

I just shrugged. We walked down to the back of the art room and into the repository room. 

“Good morning, you two. How are you?” Ogami asked. 

“I’m… well-“ I said, stopping myself from lying. “Can’t exactly be honest about that can I?”

Ogami’s head sank. “I see. I also feel the same.” She sighed. “These killings… they’re just awful.”

I nodded. “I don’t think I saw you at breakfast this morning.”

Ogami raised an eyebrow. “I was there, I just didn’t make my presence known this morning.”

“Probably because Asahina wasn’t there.” Junko said. “Where was she?”

“She said she had a stomachache, so she stayed in her room during breakfast.”

“Huh. I hope she’s okay…” I said. 

“As do I, Maizono.” Ogami nodded. “I never actually asked- how’s your wrist?”

“It’s still sore, but it’s healing really quickly. Probably wont be able to lift anything with it or write yet, but I can move it slightly.” I said. 

“Well, that’s good at least.” She smiled. “I have injured myself in numerous ways before during training and sparring, so I know many stretched and exercises that can help speed up healing. If you need any, let me know. My door is open to anyone.”

I smiled. “I’m glad. Thank you Ogami. Asahina is truly likely to be with someone like you.”

Ogami turned away. Was she… blushing? “Thank you.” 

“We should probably start having a look around…” Junko said. 

I nodded. I stared at a fram at the back. There was a large selection of different-sized hammers hanging on nails. 

“These are scuplting mallets.” Ogami said, taking the largest one off the wall with ease. “No idea why they’re so large, though. These are heavy enough to cave a person’s head in.”

I shuddered. 

“Jeez, don’t say stuff like that!” Junko cried. 

Ogami winced. “Sorry, spoke without thinking. Scary observation nontheless.”

“Yeah, for sure.” I said. Feeling uncomfortable, I quickly left with Junko in tow. We made our way down the hallway and towards the rec room. 

“Oh cool a pool table!” Junko exclaimed excitedly. “I use to play pool all the time with my friends back at home.”

“Cool!” I replied. 

“Dartboard too? Sick! I get to test my marksman skills.” She winked. 

“Ooh! They got magazines here too!” I said. “I wonder if they have any ones of you here…”

“Oh pu-lease. I saw a bunch down in the laundry anyway.”

“The laundry? I must have walked right past them.”

“I did see some magazines with you on the cover, Maizono.” A soft, accented voice called from behind us.

“Jesus don’t scare us like that!” Junko cried. 

Celeste merely giggled. “I do apologise. This is quite a fascinating room, is it not? I look forward to many-a-game of Othello here.”

“I can’t imagine too many people would be confident going up against the Ultimate Gambler.”

“Ehehe, it is what it is. I’m sure Miss Kirigiri has enough cunning to outmatch maybe even myself.”

“Where is she anyway?” I asked. “I haven’t seen here since yesterday.”

Junko shrugged. “Who knows what that mysterious woman is up to?”

“Knowing her, she has probably searched this floor ahead of time, it’s possible she just went back to her room.” Celeste said. 

“Moving on, do you play darts?” Junko asked her. 

“Hmm…” Celeste thought for a moment. “I don’t bet on it if that’s what you’re asking. It’s like horseracing, there’s really no point to it.”

“Well… what about just for fun?” 

“For leisure, perhaps occasionally.” Celeste said. “But it is not my favourite game. It is the same with pool, I prefer billiards.”

“Aren’t they the same thing?” I asked. 

“No, not at all.” Celeste giggled. “Billiards is atually very different. It just has similar mechanics to pool. It would be like calling pool and snooker the same.”

“Oh… I see…” I said. I didn’t really understand what she was saying. 

“Anyway, I have seen enough of this room. I shall see you two in the dining hall. Auf Wiedersehen!” Celeste said as she left the rec room. 

“Where is she from again?” Junko asked. 

“French, German, Japanese, who knows?” I shrugged. 

Junko snorted. “American.”

“God. Forbid.” I said through gritted teeth. 

We exited out of the rec room and made our way down the stairs. Once we got down to the first floor, Junko stopped suddenly.

“Shit. We didn’t check the classrooms and bathrooms.” She said. 

“Are they really important, though?” I said. “I mean, even if they were, Kirigiri and Ishimaru would have-“ I cut myself, realising what I just said. “Oh.” 

Junko looked uncomfortable. “I’m… sure it will be fine. You’re right. They’re probably not important.” 

“It’s not like we found anything anyway…” I said sadly. “Apart from a lot of weapons…” 

Junko shuddered. “Let’s just go back to the dorms.” 

I nodded, and together we walked back to my room. As we approached my bedroom door, I held Junko’s arm. “Hey. Can you come sit with me? I… need to talk to someone.”

Junko looked nervous, but smiled. “Of course.” She followed me into my bedroom and sat down next to me on the bed. I laid down so that my head was on the pillow, but still giving Junko plenty of room. To my surprise, instead of sitting, she laid down next to me, so that our eyes were parallel with each other. 

Suddenly, my breaths became incredibly heavy. What was this feeling? I couldn’t understand it. Being this close to Junko… I felt so… relaxed. For once. “Junko…” I whispered so quietly it was almost inaudbile. 

“Yes, Sayaka?” She replied, equally as soft. 

“Am I…?” I gulped. “Am I a bad person?”

Junko blinked in surprise but smiled softly. “Of course not, Sayaka.”

“It’s just that…” I sniffed. I felt tears beginning to form. “Everythint I touch seems to wilt. Everyone I’m close to dies.” 

Junko looked sad but said nothing. 

“Makoto, Kuwata, Chihiro… they’re all gone. But you… you’re the only person I have left. If I lost you… I don’t know what I’d do.” I sobbed. “Please Junko, please never leave me. I need you. I need you by my side.”

Junko started crying. “Sayaka…”

“I don’t want to become like Ishimaru, a shattered soul full of regret. I don’t want to be left behind. Never again.” Tears dripped onto my pillow and rolled down towards Junko’s face. “I… I’ve never felt like this about a person before… not even Makoto...”

“Sayaka, what are you saying?” Junko’s mascara started to run. “I can’t… I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“I need you, Junko. Stay with me.” I felt my body begin to curl up. The pain was becoming unbearable. 

“Okay… If you want me to.” Junko said. She sounded apprehensive. 

“Is… something wrong?”

Junko wiped her eyes. “What do you mean?” 

“You look worried. You’re just like me, right? You’re afraid of getting close to someone.”

“C-close?” 

I nodded. “I won’t ever hurt you.”

Junko frowned. “It’s not that…”

“Then what is it?”

Junko sighed. “God, you and your goddamn psychic intuition…”

I giggled. 

Junko smiled briefly, then frowned again. “Aren’t you… afraid? Of being hurt or betrayed?”

My heart sank. “Junko?”

Junko’s face turned white. “Sorry. Forget I said anything. I’m just being stupid.” She sniffed. “I’m just… overthinking things.” She covered her face with her hands. “God I wish I wasn’t in this shitty situation!” She cried loudly. 

I started crying again. “Me neither. But we will get out. Together. All of us. And when we do, I wanna stay like this. Both of us, together.”

“Wh-what are you saying, Sayaka?” Junko said. 

“I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve never felt this way about someone.” I said plainly. 

“Sayaka, I-“ She cut herself off. She started crying again. “I can’t have this conversation right now.” Junko stood up quickly.

“Junko wait!” I grabbed her hand suddenly. “Please, stay. We don’t have to have that discussion if you don’t want to. I understand that… feelings… are difficult to talk about. Especially in this environment. It’s gonna be scary, but we’ll get through it, right?” 

Junko’s face fell. “I’m sorry, Maizono. I gotta go.”

“JUNKO!” I yelled, but I couldn’t stop her. She quickly walked out of my bedroom, tears still dripping down her face. I pounded my pillow with my fist in anger. “Goddamnit!” I cried. I slammed my face into the indentation I made, feeling wet tears soak the pillow beneath me. “Junko… Makoto…” I cried. I don’t know how, but my body must have been so exhausted, because after a while I drifted off to sleep.

*

When I woke up, it was well into the evening. I stood up and stretched. My body felt a strange mixture of heaviness and weightlessness, I couldn’t tell what it was. I made my way down to dining hall and saw an unexpected sight. 

“Hina!” Ogami cried, rushing over to Asahina, who was sitting at a table by herself. She looked very shaken up. 

“Asahina! Are you alright?” I said, rushing over as well. 

“Jeez, guys!” Asahina smiled. “Don’t worry about me. It was just a stomachache.”

“A stomachache?” Celeste asked from behind me. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Asahina shuddered. “I think I might have...”

“Wait, there’s a ghost in the school!?” Hagakure cried from the doorway. 

Gradually, people came in to see what was going on. 

“Calm down, you idiot.” Togami scolded. “There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“Y-yes there are!” Hagakure insisted. “I’ve been able to see them since I was a kid!”

“T-this is n-n-no time for your i-insane occult d-delusions!” Fukawa said. 

“You’re one to talk!”

“Enough!” Kirigiri shouted. “Regardless of whether or not it was a ghost, Asahina clearly saw something. We should hear her out.”

Ogami stared down at Hagakure and Fukawa, causing them to shrink back in fear. 

Asahina smiled at Kirigiri. “Thank you, Kirigiri.” She exhaled deeply. “It… it was last night. I couldn’t sleep. I was hungry, so I decided to go to the warehouse to see if I could find some donuts…”

“So you broke the nighttime rule too?” Celeste asked. “Honestly, is there anyone who hasn’t broken it yet?”

Nobody said a word. Several people glanced at Ishimaru, expecting him to jump up with a response, but he sat eerily still, staring at the floor. 

“Sorry, Celeste.” Asahina said guiltily. 

“It is fine. Please, continue.”

“When I went out of my room, I heard a weird noise coming from the bathhouse, so I went to check it out.” She said. “I saw a weird green light shine from inside a locker that was open slightly. I looked inside the locker and…” She started crying. “It was Fujisaki’s ghost!”

“Fujisaki?” Kirigiri said. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. Plain as day, it was hi- ah, her face.” 

“We should check it out.” Ogami said.

“How is chasing Asahina’s supposed ghost story in any way necessary?” Togami asked. 

“Worst case scenario she was hallucinating and we find nothing.” Kirigiri said. “Best case scenario, we find something vitally clue that Fujisaki may have left us.” She smiled knowingly. 

“Fine.” Togami sneered. “Let’s go.” 

We quickly left the dining hall and made our way to the bathhouse. 

“How can you be so sure there’s anything even in here?” Togami asked. 

“That’s simple.” Kirigiri said. “Look around.”

I remembered my conversation with Junko a couple days ago. “There are no cameras in here.” I said. I looked around, but I couldn’t see Junko anywhere. She was the only one among our group that was missing. That worried me. 

Kirigiri smiled. “Exactly. Perfect place to hide something, which, if Asahina’s account wasn’t a dream or a hallucination, is most likely what Fujisaki did.” 

“It was that locker there!” Asahina cried, pointing to a locker sitting ajar. 

Immediately, Kirigiri opened it, and inside we found…

“A laptop?” Yamada asked. 

Kirigiri tapped a button, and the laptop came to life. On the screen, we saw the familiar face of Chihiro Fujisaki. 

“Hello!” A computerised voice that echoed Chihiro perfectly said cheerily. 

“AAAAH!!! A g-g-ghost!” Hagakure and Fukawa cried in unison. Fukawa fell backwards and collapsed on the floor. 

“I thought she didn’t believe your insane ghost story.” Togami said, looking down at Fukawa’s body. 

“It’s not a ghost.” Kirigiri said. “It looks like some kind of program.”

“It makes sense, she was the Ultimate Programmer after all…” I said. 

“Can we talk to it?” Yamada asked. 

Kirigiri nodded. She started typing on the keyboard, seeing the words show up in dialogue box underneath Chihiro’s face.  _ “Who are you?” _

Chihiro’s face giggled on the screen. “Oh! Hello! I am Alter Ego. I’m an Artificial Intelligence designed to help people.”

“Alter Ego?” Yamada repeated. 

“An… AI?” Asahina asked.

I gasped. “This is what Chihiro was working on before she died. I saw her typing some code the other day…”

“How in the world did she craft something so complex with such limited resources?” Togami asked. 

“She is an Ultimate after all.” Kirigiri said. “While challenging, it would not have been impossible.”

“Wow, I didn’t expect so many of you.” Alter Ego said. “Did Master tell you about me?”

We all looked at each other uncomfortably. 

Kirigiri thought for a moment and then typed. “ _ How can you see us?” _

“I can monitor who uses this laptop through the webcam built into the computer.” Alter Ego said. 

Kirigiri spoke aloud. “This is good. If the mastermind were to discover this laptop, it would be disastrous.”

“Where is Master, anyway? I haven’t seen her in a while…”

Kirigiri looked at me. I nodded to her in return. She starrted typing.  _ “Chihiro is dead. Owada killed her.” _

There was a look of genuine shock on the AI’s interface. “Oh. I figured something like that might happen. Master warned me that it could.”

“Is that… Chihiro?” Came a small voice. 

“Ishimaru!” I cried. 

Everyone made way for Ishimaru as he pushed forward. “Chihiro… you’re alive… you’re here…”

Kirigiri stepped in front of him. “Hold on now. You’re in a vulnerable state. We can’t have you experiencing any denial.”

Ishimaru looked sad, and then his face became vacant again.

“I’m sorry, Ishimaru. It’s for your own good.” Kirigiri explained. 

Ishimaru nodded, having understood. 

Yamada, on the other hand, was drooling. I refused to acknowledge that, so I immediately turned away. 

Kirigiri turned back to the laptop and began typing again.  _ “Is there anything you can do?” _

“You’re asking why Master made me, I presume.” Alter Ego said. “She tasked me to search through the school files on this laptop. They were all encrypted, so that’s why she asked me.”

“Faster than doing it all by hand.” Kirigiri said. “She was smart.”

I bowed my head solemnly. Her voice sounded so real, so lifelike. I kept having to convince myself that it was just a computer program. 

“Cheer up, Maizono!” Alter Ego called out to me. “I understand how you must feel, but Master told me a lot about you. I know how strong you are. You can get through this.”

_ “ _ Strong?” I said. 

  
  


_ “There are different kinds of strength.” _

  
  


I blinked. Chihiro took those words to heart… she really wanted to become strong in her own way. Hearing Alter Ego say that now, that reaffirmed it for me. “Th… thank you.” 

“ _ About those files…”  _ Kirigiri typed. 

“Oh! Of course!” Alter Ego said. “I can get through the encryption, but it’s going to take time.”

“ _ How long?” _

“Mmm…” The AI seemed to think for a moment. “Probably at least a couple days… But I can you tell this much: The school shutdown was ordered by the headmaster of the school, and that’s why all the exits are blocked.” 

“Well… yeah… Monokuma’s the headmaster after all…” Hagakure said. 

Alter Ego shook its head. “No, I mean the  _ actual  _ headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy. I don’t know his name, but all I know is that he’s a man in his late thirties, and that he never left the school after the shutdown.”

“What the hell!?” Hagakure cried. “The actual headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy is the  _ mastermind!? _ ”

Alter Ego nodded. 

Kirigiri looked angry. An anger like I’ve never seen on her face. She shook her head and began typing.  _ “Thank you, Alter Ego. That will be all. Please continue decrypting those files.” _

“I will!” Alter Ego said. “Bye bye for now! Oh, and if anyone tries to take me, I’ll just scream real loud!”

The laptop screen suddenly went dark. 

Kirigiri stood up straight. “Okay. It is vital that Alter Ego stays safe. As a result, we should only talk to Alter Ego as a group, and very occasionally. Too many trips to the sauna is going to tip off the mastermind. And also…” She looked at us with a hard expression. “There could be a chance one of us is working with the mastermind, and if they got a hold of this laptop, it would be a devastating loss.”

“What good is Alter Ego screaming gonna do?” Asahina asked. “Our rooms are soundproof.”

“I considered that. My room is closest to the bathhouse, so at night I will leave my door open.” Kirigiri said. 

“What!?” I cried. “Th-that’s insane!” 

“You do realise you are opening yourself up to be an easy target, no?” Celeste asked. 

“I understand the risks. However I am not some weak or mild-mannered woman. I can look after myself.” Kirigiri spoke very threateningly to make her message clear. It worked.

“Okay. So then that’s settled.” Celeste said. “I don’t think there is any more reason to stay here.”

Kirigiri nodded. “Maizono, you’ll have to catch up Enoshima on our discovery. It’s important that everyone is filled in.”

I nodded. 

“What if she’s the spy working for the mastermind?” Yamada asked. “It’s suspicious that she didn’t show up to dinner today.”

“What?” I cried. “No! That’s impossible!”

“We can’t discern that she is the spy based on that.” Kirigiri said. “Although I’ll admit her sudden disappearance is suspicious, it’s not enough basis for an accusation.”

“That is correct. We cannot say who can and cannot be the mastermind’s mole.” Ogami inferred. 

Asahina looked happy as we all exited the bathhouse. “I just did something awesome, right?” She cried excitedly. “I just did something totally amazing.”

“Oh please, do tell!” Monokuma suddenly said, appearing out of nowhere. “What on earth were you all doing in bathhouse!? Having some sort of mixed bath? How indecent!”

“S-shut up!” Asahina cried. “It’s nothing dirty like that!”

Celeste was quick with a lie. “Asahina just simply won us a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. We were trying to decide who should use the bathhouse first and Asahina won.”

“Wha wha?” Monokuma said. 

“Huh? Uh- oh yeah!” Asahina said quickly. “It was down to me and Hagakure, but it looks like fortune was against him this time!” She smiled gleefully. 

Hagakure scowled. “Hey! I managed to predict everyone else’s moves except yours! That was pure luck!”

“Kyehahahaha!!!” Genocider Syo yelled as she ran out of the bathhouse. “Was that what was happening!? Oh boy I’m all excited!”

“Syo, unfortunately, couldn’t take part.” Celeste sighed. “Poor Fukawa passed out after beating Togami.”

I was surprised how quick everyone got onto that lie. I guess in this environment, lying is second nature. While I expected it from Celeste as she was the Ultimate Gambler, I did not expect it from everyone else. And speaking of lies… I couldn’t but look at Kirigiri. She still hadn’t told us what her Ultimate Talent was. That worried me. Could she have been the spy? Kirigiri shot me a look in return and I turned away.

“So it’s settled then?” Kirigiri said, facing Monokuma. “We’re going to have our bath now. You boys should head on out.”

Togami had already disappeared. Yamada looked at Celeste sadly and trudged off, Hagakure and Ishimaru in tow. 

Monokuma huffed. “That was a perfect opportunity to spy! Are you even real teenage boys!?”

“Shut the hell up!” Asahina growled. “That’s so gross!” 

“Ignore him, Hina. Let’s just go in.” Ogami turned and walked with her back to the bathhouse. 

Monokuma looked angry, but said nothing and vanished. 

We all followed Asahina and Ogami into the bathhouse, where they had already started getting changed. 

“Oh, are we actually going in?” I asked. 

“May as well. Lord knows I could use the relaxation.” Celeste sighed. 

“Kyehahaha!” Syo laughed. “It’s too bad Master isn’t here with me!”

“Stop talking about Togami like that, it’s so weird!” Asahina cried. 

After we all got changed, I walked into the bathhouse and immediately sank into the hot water. I felt my entire body relax. The water was so nice I could practically feel my troubles melting away. I lay my head on the side of the pool and exhaled. 

“I wish Junko was here.” I said quietly to myself. I realised how badly I needed her company. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so… straight-forward with her. When I next see her, I’ll tell her I’m sorry. And that… I’m here for her too. Just like Makoto was for me.”

I looked around, but nobody was paying attention to me. That was good. 

“Because…” I said quietly. I finally found the strength to admit what I was feeling, even to no audience. “Because I love you, Junko Enoshima.”

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
